Original research articleNaturally occurring dietary salicylates: A closer look at common Australian foods

- Deuterated SA used as internal standard for detecting total salicylate content.
- Proper sampling technique used to address drawbacks in prior research.
- Salicylate content reported for the first time in serving sizes for clinical practice.
- Salicylate content differs considerably from previously reported findings.
- Findings impart consistency to a field steeped in variability and controversy.

Dietary salicylates may have similar benefits and/or adverse symptoms as documented for Aspirin. To develop dietary strategies, data on salicylate content of food is essential, but the available literature is limited and controversial. Hence the aims of this study are to apply and validate a reliable methodology to determine the salicylate content of common foods, and compare with recently published data. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used with SA-d6 (deuterated salicylic acid) as an internal standard to analyse 112 common Australian food items pooled from ten different sources. Technical sextuplicates show a coefficient of variation of 3.03%. SA content ranged from 1.28-26.93 (vegetables), 2.13-36.90 (fruits), 2.80-604.97 (herbs/spices) and 2.04-51.48 (beverages) mg/kg. SA was undetected in oils, sugars and cereals analysed. The results reveal inconsistencies within the extant literature and a pressing need for further research extending the analysis to a broader range of food items.