Santé Laboratories’ full-panel alkaloid test for kratom is said to be an industry first
The company’s goal is to analyze and define full-spectrum kratom.
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Analytical testing firm Santé Laboratories (Austin, TX) says it has developed the first full-panel alkaloid test for the herb kratom (Mitragyna speciosa). The company’s goal is to analyze and define full-spectrum kratom.
Kratom is an ingredient that’s seen some controversy over its purported safety in recent years. Currently, Santé says that most competing labs use testing methodologies that can only visualize kratom’s two major alkaloids, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. Santé’s testing methodology, however, is a seven-alkaloid panel validated to quantify indole and oxindole alkaloids such as mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, paynantheine, speciogynine, speciociliatine, mitraphylline, isorhynchophylline, and rhynchophylline.
This is important as industry companies look to develop full-spectrum kratom products with the belief that the more than 40 structurally related alkaloids that have been identified in kratom leaves all work synergistically together, similar to the entourage effect attributed to hemp cannabidiol, whose efficacy some attribute to the full, synergistic range of cannabinoids and terpenoids in cannabis. Thus, identification of more than just two alkaloids is critical, the company says.
Mike Sandoval, president and COO of Santé Laboratories, said in a press release, “Identification and characterization of these major and minor alkaloids will not only support efforts to standardize raw material and finished products for quality-control purposes, but it will also help researchers and drug developers better understand the overall effects reported with kratom use.”
The company’s methods involve chromatographic separation and identification of indole and oxindole alkaloids using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) instruments. It says it is the “first and only contract research organization to offer a comprehensive alkaloid panel to food and dietary supplement, universities, and pharmaceutical companies.” It further states, “As the kratom industry continues to scale in either direction—food, dietary supplements, drugs—access to superior and scientifically valid testing services is of utmost importance.”
