Analysis of Vanillin (Vanilla Extract) in the Reporting of a Bespoke Alcohol Assessment

Introduction

An independent laboratory (routinely used in the assessment of alcohol consumption in child-case proceedings) tested a scalp hair sample taken from the client for alcohol-use biomarkers and opined that there was no evidence to suggest chronic or excessive alcohol consumption during the testing period.However, subsequent testing from this company during the month immediately following the release of these results found significantly increased levels of the primary marker of alcohol consumption (EtG) in the more recent results.

Consequently, FTS were instructed to provide a second opinion on the client’s likely frequency of alcohol consumption during the entire period covered by the previous two tests.

These assessments are typically made by analysing the level of alcohol-use biomarkers, which are formed in the body following the consumption of ethanol. However, the primary biomarker used in analysis (EtG) is extremely vulnerable to the removal effects of external influences, such as the use of hair dye, bleach and even regular hair washing.

FTS regularly provide assessments in context with these external factors by reporting all levels detected, even those which fall below the Society of Hair Testing’s recommended cut-offs. Therefore, the consideration of any influence hair dye and/or hair washing is likely to have made on the results is a routine analysis performed by FTS, and not the focal point in this particular case.

The primary complication of this case arises from the court’s requirement to assess the likely source of ethanol consumed.

Specifically, during the testing period, the client was a resident of a supervised living facility. Concerns were raised when over 30 bottles of vanilla extract were discovered in their living quarters.

Vanilla extract is known to contain ethanol and so, should this product be consumed at similar quantities to typical alcoholic beverages, this would induce the same physiological effects as alcohol consumption.

Therefore, FTS were instructed to test for the complete profile of alcohol-use biomarkers found in a ‘typical’ assessment of alcohol consumption in order to ascertain whether it was possible that the client was consuming alcohol during the period they lived in the supervised facility, and whether this consumption would have been excessive (an average of >55 units each week).

In addition, the instruction was to also test for the compound found in vanilla (vanillin) in order to assess whether the source of any alcohol the client may have consumed was in the form of vanilla extract.

Expert Guidance Required in this Case

From the offset, FTS guided the course of the instruction so an accurate, clear, and fair judgement could be made the courts from the testing evidence and opinions provided by FTS.

It was clear that the industry standard practice of using 3 cm hair sections, which provides an assessment of an average level of alcohol consumption over an entire 3-month period, was not appropriate for this case, as the specific period of interest (when the client lived in the supervised facility) would not be isolated without additional segmentation of the hair sample.

Consequently, the hair sample used was segmented in monthly sections, in order to pinpoint the precise periods, the client lived in the supervised unit and correlate these with a likely level of alcohol consumption each month.

In addition, FTS always request additional information in form of a declaration made by the client with regard to their self-reported level of alcohol consumption. The client declared having consumed alcohol excessively since leaving the residential placement and having consumed tea containing vanilla extract on a very frequent basis throughout their placement.

In context with their use of hair treatments, in our experience, when excessive alcohol consumption has occurred during earlier periods covered by the hair sample, these treatments could remove EtG from the sections where excessive alcohol consumption has occurred and wash this biomarker into older hair sections where alcohol consumption has not occurred.

In the alternative, the use of these treatments may have removed a proportion (or the majority) of the EtG from all hair sections.
Therefore, it was necessary to ‘benchmark’ the levels reported by the independent testing laboratory, with the levels reported by FTS to compare any difference in order to assess the level and type of influence the hair treatments have made on the sample analysed.

FTS requested, and were provided with, the findings from the independent laboratory in order to make an assessment on the influencing factors unique to this case.

Expert Research

At the start of the testing process, experts were assigned to the client’s case who would oversee the entire testing procedure, anticipate gaps in knowledge, and work to fill these with information collected from a range of sources.

This included:

• A personalised, recorded interview with the client to clarify key aspects of their declaration.
• The novel development of a method for the analysis of vanillin in hair samples.
• Calculation of the ABV% of ethanol contained within the brands of vanilla extract found in the client’s accommodation.
• The biological, chemical, and physical properties associated with vanillin.

The cumulation of this research allowed FTS to provide a quantifiable level of vanillin in the hair sample, an opinion on what these levels were likely to represent in context with the alcohol-use biomarkers, and whether the alcohol-use biomarker findings could be explained by the consumption of vanilla extract alone.

Outcomes of the Investigation

This investigation concluded with the opinion that:

• The client had likely consumed excessive levels of alcohol during the period covered by both periods previously reported by the independent laboratory. This was despite the levels of EtG falling below ‘cut-off’, very likely due to the significant removal of EtG from the older hair sections due to external influences.
• The client had likely consumed excessive levels of alcohol each month throughout the testing period.
• Using the vanillin findings, at least a proportion (and possibly the entirety) of the excessive alcohol consumption which is likely to have occurred whilst the client was in the supervised placement was due to the consumption of the specific brands of vanilla extract found in their accommodation.

Wider Impact and Considerations

This case exemplifies the need for evidence-driven interpretations, formed on the balance of probabilities where all external influences and additional case-specific information is considered in context with the profile of results.

In certain cases, the standard methods used by the toxicology industry must be adapted to provide the relevant evidence to the court.

The rigid adherence to the industry-standard methodology can cause confusion in cases where the evidence has not been appropriately presented for the courts, which can lead to miscarriages of justice.

When experts have the capacity to advise and work closely with the parties involved with each case, these miscarriages can be avoided, which ultimately leads to the most appropriate outcomes for all parties involved in the proceedings.