Capillary electrophoretic determination of adrenergic amines in Citrus-based beverages: chinotto soft drinks from different sources

Several Citrus fruits contain considerable amounts of biologically active adrenergic amines. These compounds seem to stimulate the body thermogenesis and accelerate its metabolism, inducing a “fat-burning” process that facilitates body slimming and amplifies the effect of hypocaloric diets. In fact, Citrus extracts are currently included in several herbal remedies and food supplements developed for these purposes. The Citrus fruits most frequently used for the preparation of these commercial products are Citrus aurantium (bitter orange) and others that have a bitter taste, since they seem to contain higher amounts of adrenergic amines. Aim of this study is the determination of the three most important adrenergic amines of Citrus, namely synephrine, tyramine and octopamine, in chinotto-based soft drinks. While chinotto is not normally eaten as such, nor used for dietary supplements, it has a bitter taste and is relatively common as an ingredient for beverages; consuming these products could have a significant impact on hypocaloric (and other kinds of) diets. On the other hand, the presence of amines (or lack thereof) could be used as a marker for exposing possible frauds, where other extracts, or simple flavours, are used instead of real chinotto fruits. A fast and reliable capillary electrophoresis (CE) method has been developed to determine the analyte content of different chinotto-based beverages. It was then applied to the analysis of several soft drinks that claim to use chinotto fruits or extracts as the main ingredient, providing satisfactory results. The method seems thus to be suitable for this purpose.