Advances in Analytical Methods for Quality Control and Authentication of Nutraceuticals: A Comprehensive Review

Nutraceuticals are food-based products that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition and play an increasingly important role in preventive healthcare. Ensuring their quality, safety, and efficacy is critical as the global market expands. A systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed using keywords such as ‘nutraceuticals,’ functional foods,’ and ‘quality control,’ with studies selected based on their focus on methods for standardization, characterization, and quality assessment. This review summarizes current analytical approaches, including spectroscopic, chromatographic, and techniques for elemental analysis, highlighting their applications in compound identification, quantification, detection of adulterants, and overall quality control. Emerging challenges and future trends, such as the integration of chemometrics and real-time analytical strategies, are also discussed, providing a comprehensive perspective on the evolving field of nutraceutical analysis.