Profiling wines in China for the biogenic amines: A nationwide survey and pharmacokinetic fate modelling

Highlights

• We conducted a nationwide survey of Chinese wines for the occurrence of biogenic amines (BAs).

• Sampling campaign covered >90% of wine (n = 456) in China from 2014 to 2016.

• Different exposure scenarios were simulated with PBPK model to characterize risk.

• The study provided baseline for risk assessment for BAs dietary uptake.

Abstract

Biogenic amines (BAs), a class of nitrogenous compounds that are frequently detected in wine, pose adverse effects to humans. However, with the largest red wine consumption in the world, little is known about national profiles correlating BAs in wines to toxicological/health risks in China. In this study, we conducted a nationwide survey of commercially available wines for the occurrence of BAs. Our sampling campaign covered >90% of wine brands (n = 456) in China in a three year span (2014–2016). The target BAs included tryptamine, phenylethylamine, putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, tyramine, spermidine and spermine. In order to quantitatively characterize the potential risk and/or support regulatory decision-making, chronic and acute BA exposure scenarios were developed and simulated with a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model. The model described the fate and transport of BAs within human body using physical descriptions of relevant processes. These results provided baseline data that are needed for the risk assessment of dietary uptake of BAs and evaluating winemaking processes by food safety authorities.

Introduction

Biogenic amines (BAs) are low molecular weight nitrogenous compounds that are frequently detected in fermented food and wine (Ancin-Azpilicueta et al., 2008, Blackwell and Mabbit, 1965). They originate as a result of complex processes during winemaking. Although putrescine was reported to be produced in grape due to low potassium concentration in soils (Landete, Ferrer, Polo, & Pardo, 2005), most BAs were formed via decarboxylation of amino acids (Anli & Bayram, 2009). Amino acid content was attributed to be the main reason for BA formation in the winemaking process, where malolactic fermentation was the main process to produce histamine and tyramine (Costantini et al., 2009, Marcobal et al., 2006). In addition, the BA formation was evidently related to the wine quality (Costantini et al., 2009, Garcia-Villar et al., 2007), thus the detection of BA is used as an indicator for hygiene conditions of industrial manufacture of red wines (Beneduce et al., 2010).

Although BA are indispensable components of living cells and important in the regulation of several natural physiological processes, the intake of large amounts of BA can pose adverse physiological effects to consumers including headaches, heart palpitation, hyper/hypotension and respiratory distress (Littlewood et al., 1988, Shalaby, 1996). BAs in wines potentially exacerbate the side effects due to the synergistic interaction with alcohol, especially to susceptible humans (Heberger et al., 2003, Konakovsky et al., 2011). Therefore, upper limits from 2 to 10 mg L⁻¹ of amines (such as histamine) are suggested for red wine industry in European countries such as Germany, Belgium, France, and Switzerland (Landete et al., 2005). The content of BAs for red wines in Chinese market may be regulated in the near future following the suggested limits of the European market. To date, China is the leading red wine consumer with 1.86 billion domestic and imported bottles sold in 2013 (Willsher, 2014). With anticipation of steady growth for red wine industry in next decade, such vast amount of consumption of red wines raises increasing concern of adverse health effects of BAs to the Chinese public. Yet, national profiles correlating BAs to toxicological risks have not been established. There are limited survey for the BA contents in Chinese red wines with data collected from either a very small size sampling or limited production regions (Li, Wu, Zhang, Zhao, & Xue, 2007). A large data set from various production sites and vintage years is necessary to establish BA profiles as red wine fingerprint. Such quantitative analysis of BA levels is essential to evaluate the status of quality control, and provide scientific basis for safety control in winemaking process (Bisson, Waterhouse, Ebeler, Walker, & Lapsley, 2002).

In this study, we sampled most of the commercially available wines in China, covering >90% of domestic wine brands in the market. In a three year span (2014–2016), a total of 456 wine samples were collected to monitor BA levels from different geographical origins of China. The target BAs included tryptamine (TRY), phenylethylamine (PHE), putrescine (PUT), cadaverine (CAD), histamine (HIS), tyramine (TYR), spermidine (SPD) and spermine (SPM). These amines were selected due to their common presence in wine and potential toxicological/health impacts to humans. It is worthy of mentioning that contents of PUT could be used as an indicator to evaluate the potential unsanitary production conditions during wine manufacturing. But there is no established maximum-allowable limits on the BAs content for alcoholic beverages in China. Further, a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model with chronic and acute BAs exposure scenarios was developed and analyzed with the purpose of quantitative characterization of potential risk on individuals and/or regulatory decision-making (Nadal, Fabrega, Schuhmacher, & Domingo, 2013). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study at the national level to assess and link the BA contents to potential health risks for the largest group of wine consumers.