Abstract: Objective:To establish an RP-HPLC method or the determination of the contents of five main flavones in health food. Methods:contents of daidzin, genistin, daidzein, alion, genistein in health food was measured by RP-HPLC [a column of Kromasil C18(250 mm×4.6 mm, 5μm), with mobile phase of methanol-water, eluted in gradient mode, flow rate 1.0 ml/min, detection wavelength of 260 nm, column temperature 30 ℃]. Results:The calibration curves showed good linearity in the range of 4.088～204.4(daidzin), 3.448～172.4(genistin), 3.208～160.4(daidzein), 3.528～176.4(alion), 4.784～239.2μg/ml (genistein), correlation coefficients were 0.9997, 0.9998, 0.9998, 0.9995, 0.9996. The average recoveries (n=9) were 100.1%, 97.4%, 100.9%, 99.5% and 100.8% respectively. The average contents (n=5) of the five components in health food were 156.81μg/ml, 168.42μg/ml, 41.98μg/ml, 39.84μg/ml, 36.55μg/ml, and RSD were 2.6%, 1.3%, 1.8%, 2.8% and 2.3%. Conclusion:An accurate and reproducible method can be used for the quality control of health food.

Key words: health food, RP-HPLC, flavones