ABSTRACT. Potato juice is a new product of functional nutrition, which, due to the absence of heat treatment, allows the use of potato nutrients in their native form and initial concentrations. The mineral composition of juices obtained from raw tubers of purple (Bagheera variety), pink (Lila variety) and yellow potatoes (Alaska variety) was studied during the experiment. The analyses were performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Nexion 300D Perkin Elmer, USA). The daily requirement of the organism in minerals was estimated in accordance with the approved methodological recommendations. It is shown that juices obtained from potatoes of three tested varieties contain high concentrations of potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, covering about a quarter of the daily requirement of the organism in these macronutrients, but low concentrations of calcium and sodium. The product can be considered as a source of iron, zinc, copper, manganese and silicon, but the content of these trace elements varies depending on the potato variety. The concentrations of other trace elements studied (iodine, molybdenum, selenium, chromium, cobalt and vanadium) in juices from the tested potato varieties were low. The results of the study suggest that potato juice, when consumed regularly, can make a significant contribution to the replenishment of essential macro- (potassium, phosphorus, magnesium) and trace elements (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, silicon).
KEYWORDS: potato, potato juice, nutritional biochemistry, macro- and trace elements.