Reactive sugars for protection against cyanide adulteration

Cyanide reactive reducing sugars, such as xylose, ribose, arabinose, glyceraldehyde and erythrose, are added to a food, drug or other oral composition to detoxify cyanide. The cyanide reacive reducing sugar is added in an amount in excess of about 1 weight percent. The cyanide reactive reducing sugar may be mixed into the composition or may be applied as a coating on a solid composition. The cyanide reactive reducing sugar is one of the edible components of the gum.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to the detoxification of cyanide in foods, 
drugs or other oral compositions before or during consumption for the 
purpose of minimizing injury to consumers who consume cyanide-adulterated 
products. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Cyanide is a readily available poison which is extremely dangerous and 
often fatal when consumed in relatively small dosages. The presence of 
cyanide in foods is difficult to detect since it does not possess an 
easily noticeable color. At low doses and in the presence of other 
flavors, cyanide may not be detected by its bitter almond odor. 
Packaging devices have been provided which warn a consumer of potential 
tampering or adulteration of the packaged products. These systems 
generally involve a physical modification of the package such as the 
presence of a plastic seal which when broken indicates tampering. However, 
if the warning signal given by the package is overlooked by the consumer 
or circumvented by the tamperer such as by injection, the consumer would 
still ingest the cyanide-laced product. 
Sugars or saccharides are frequently added to food. Among the most commonly 
used sugar additives are glucose and fructose. Other edible sugars, 
including xylose, ribose, arabinose, glyceraldehyde and erythrose, are 
occasionally found in or added to food. 
For example, Ogawa (Japanese Patent No. Sho 82-55382) describes a method 
for preparing chewing gum which utilizes xylose reacted with an amino acid 
and blended at a temperature of at least 100.degree. C., to produce 
Maillard reaction products for improved flavor. Ogawa teaches flavor 
impairment if the level of the Maillard reaction product exceeds 2%, 
although a level of up to 5% is also mentioned. 
Yamada (Japanese Patent No. Sho 71-41598) discloses improved taste, color 
and fragrance of alcoholic beverages by adding a minor amount of xylose 
instead of glucose. Yamada teaches a maximum concentration of 3% weight 
per volume for xylose. 
Andrews (U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,716) discloses the use of tetroses, pentoses 
and hexoses having two "hydroxyl groups in the cis position on the 2,3 
carbons" of the ring structures, particularly erythrose, ribose, allose 
and gulose. These sugars are added at a concentration between about 
0.0005% and 0.001% to retard the oxidation of food compounds. Andrews 
reports that arabinose or xylose are ineffective in retarding oxidation 
and that glyceraldehyde accelerates oxidation. 
Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are commercially available and 
extremely poisonous compounds. Death may occur in the presence of only 50 
milligrams of sodium or potassium cyanide in food products. Individual 
responses to cyanide poisoning vary widely. Some persons have survived 
doses of more than three grams. Once cyanide is ingested, it must be 
absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream and thence into the body 
tissues where it poisons cell respiration. Cyanide is one of the most 
rapidly acting poisons: victims have died within minutes of exposure. 
Rapid treatment using appropriate antidotes, such as amyl nitrite (C.sub.5 
H.sub.11 ONO), greatly increases the chance for survival. 
Lower doses of cyanide allow more time for successful treatment to begin, 
sometimes more than one hour. Thus, there may be some benefit to reducing 
the level of cyanide ingested even though the dosage may still be lethal 
without treatment. In addition detoxification of cyanide in the gut would 
prevent absorption of and ill effects from cyanide. 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to add an ingestible 
component to foods, drugs and other oral compositions which will reduce 
toxicity due to cyanide adulteration. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is 
provided a food, drug or other oral composition which includes ingestible 
ingredients and a cyanide reactive reducing sugar. A reducing sugar is one 
having an aldose function. A cyanide reactive reducing sugar is defined as 
any aldose which reacts with cyanide faster than glucose at room 
temperature in aqueous solution. The cyanide reactive reducing sugar is 
present in an amount greater than about 1 weight percent. 
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is a 
method of manufacturing a food, drug or other oral composition which is 
capable of detoxifying an adulterating amount of cyanide. The method 
includes the step of adding a cyanide reactive reducing sugar to the food 
in an amount in excess of 1 weight percent.

PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that 
certain reducing sugars can be employed to detoxify or neutralize cyanide 
in food, drug or other oral compositions. As used herein the term food, 
drug or oral composition means any ingestible product or products intended 
to be taken into the mouth. Such compositions include any food, drug or 
like composition intended for contact with the oral cavity. Accordingly, 
the food or oral composition may be chewed, swallowed, allowed to 
dissolve, or swirled about in the oral cavity such that at least a portion 
of the composition is likely to enter the digestive tract. Examples of 
materials suitable for use with the present invention would include foods, 
beverages, nutritional supplements. chewing gums, oral medications, 
toothpastes and mouthwashes. 
Preferably, the reducing sugar is present in the food, drug or oral 
composition in an amount sufficient to detoxify the anticipated quantity 
of cyanide adulteration. Although the sugar is thought to combine with 
cyanide on a one-for-one molar basis, the inclusion of an excess of 
reducing sugar is preferred to encourage more rapid and complete 
detoxification of the cyanide. A sufficient quantity of reducing sugar 
should be used such that the anticipated cyanide will be completely or 
substantially destroyed before the product would be consumed. 
Alternatively, if the consumable product is of such low moisture that 
detoxification during storage is likely to be incomplete, sufficient 
reducing sugar should be used to ensure rapid total or substantial 
detoxification of the anticipated cyanide level while the cyanide is still 
in the mouth or gut. This would help decrease or prevent toxicity. 
Many factors affect the required amount of reducing sugar, including the 
reactivity of the sugar, the anticipated level and method of cyanide 
adulteration, the moisture level of the product and the anticipated 
storage interval between adulteration and consumption. Not only could the 
nature of the product itself affect the required level, but the method of 
incorporating the cyanide reactive reducing sugar could, too. Where the 
oral composition is in liquid or solid form, the cyanide reactive reducing 
sugar may be mixed into the composition at virtually any step in 
manufacture. If the oral composition is a solid, and adulteration by 
surface application is anticipated, the reducing sugar may be added to the 
oral composition by surface application as a coating. 
When utilized in most food products, the cyanide reactive reducing sugars 
are preferably present in an amount of from about 1 percent by weight of 
the composition to about 50% or more. A preferred concentration of the 
cyanide reactive reducing sugar is about 4-20%. A more preferred 
concentration of the cyanide reactive reducing sugar is at least 5 
percent. A higher level of cyanide reactive reducing sugar may be 
preferred when the reducing sugar is mixed into the product than when it 
is applied to the surface. For mixing into beverages, a level of about 15% 
is preferred. Higher levels of cyanide reactive reducing sugars may be 
used as long as there are no deleterious effects on food quality. 
It has been discovered that several uncommon sugars will quickly detoxify 
cyanide. This phenomenon occurs when they are incorporated into a food 
beverage or drug product at appropriate levels. Detoxification of cyanide 
occurs during storage or even upon consumption, but before toxicity is 
manifested. The preferred sugars are xylose ribose and arabinose. Other 
sugars such as glyceraldehyde and erythrose may be expected to be 
similarly effective. These sugars are typically characterized by aldose 
functionality and a length of three to five carbons. Most preferred is 
xylose. If xylose is applied to the surface of the product, as little as 
1% by weight may be effective. More preferably, about 2% to about 5% 
xylose by weight is applied to the surface. 
It is believed that one possible mechanism of cyanide detoxification 
involves converting cyanide to non-toxic amides and acids through an 
aldonitrile intermediate as shown below for ribose: 
##STR1## 
The following examples are merely intended to illustrate the present 
invention. It is to be understood that these examples are not to be 
construed as a limitation of the present invention, the scope of which is 
defined in the appended claims. 
EXAMPLES 
Example 1 
A dilute solution (0.2 M) of potassium cyanide was prepared with 
radiolabelled (C.sup.13) potassium cyanide. Solutions of the following 
sugars (2.0 M) were prepared: fructose, glucose, arabinose, ribose, and 
xylose. Equal volumes of potassium cyanide and reducing sugar solution 
were mixed and analyzed continuously for C.sup.13 -labelled cyanide using 
nuclear magnetic resonance. Data were tabulated for each reducing sugar. 
For each sugar, a half-life, or time required for half of the cyanide to 
be destroyed, was determined and reported below: 
______________________________________ 
Sugar Cyanide Half-Life (25.degree. C.) 
______________________________________ 
Fructose 63.9 min 
Glucose (Dextrose) 
19.3 min 
Arabinose 4.2 min 
Ribose &lt;4 min 
Xylose 1.0 min 
______________________________________ 
This experiment indicates that soft drinks powdered drink mixes, and milk 
can be protected by using arabinose, ribose and/or xylose as the primary 
or sole sweetener(s). The levels used would be equivalent to a liter of 
beverage containing 15% sugar being adulterated with 6.5 g of potassium 
chloride. Using the reactive sugars, the cyanide level in an eight-ounce 
serving would drop to a sublethal level in approximately 5 to 30 minutes. 
With conventional sweeteners, such as fructose, glucose and sucrose (which 
is a non-aldose combination of fructose and glucose which would be 
expected to react even more slowly). the beverage would remain lethal for 
2 to 7 hours or longer. 
These data also suggest that a small dose of dry cyanide taken with xylose 
would be significantly detoxified in saliva, but detoxification with 
sucrose, glucose or fructose would be minimal. 
Example 2 
Standard size (3 g) sticks of chewing gum were prepared and dusted with 
sucrose. One half of the sticks were designated controls and received no 
xylose. To each side of the remainder of the sticks. 50 mg of xylose 
powder was applied. To both control and xylose-coated sticks, powdered 
potassium cyanide was applied. 25 mg to each side. Next, all sticks were 
wrapped in a conventional tissue/foil laminated wrapper and a paper 
sleeve. The gum sticks were stored at 85.degree. F. and 50% relative 
humidity for 0.5 and 7.0 days. At each time, one half of the sticks were 
analyzed for cyanide. The xylose-coated gum had lost 51% and 89% of the 
original cyanide content after 0.5 and 7.0 days in storage, respectively. 
The control gum lost 35% and 61% of the original cyanide content during 
the same time periods. 
Example 3 
Sticks of gum were prepared as described in Example 2. except for a change 
in cyanide application. The sticks were treated with an aqueous solution 
of 50% potassium cyanide, instead of powdered potassium cyanide. Enough 
cyanide solution was applied to deposit 25 mg of potassium cyanide on each 
side of the gum sticks. The sticks were analyzed after 1.0, 3.0 and 24.0 
hours. At these times, the xylose gum had reduced the cyanide level by 
59%, 94% and 100% respectively. Cyanide levels in the control gum were 
reduced by 40%, 70% and 90% for the same time periods. Calculations using 
first order kinetic equations show that the xylose-coated gum could be 
expected to completely detoxify the cyanide in less than five hours 
compared to 51 hours for the control gum. 
While reference has been made to certain specific food materials, it is 
realized that this invention is applicable to the full range of foods, 
cosmetics and pharmaceuticals in aqueous and so-called non-aqueous or 
essentially anhydrous systems, wherever an oral composition may be 
adulterated.