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Presence of L-Canavanine in Hedysarum alpinum Seeds and Its Potential Role in the Death of Chris McCandless

2015; Elsevier BV; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.wem.2014.08.014

1545-1534

Jon Krakauer, Ying Long, Andrew Kolbert, Shri Thanedar, Jonathan N. Southard,

Plant and fungal interactions

For the past 2 decades there has been vigorous disagreement over the purported toxicity of Hedysarum alpinum seeds, and whether the consumption of such seeds was a factor in the 1992 death of Chris McCandless, the subject of the book Into the Wild. Our objective was to confirm or disprove the presence of L-canavanine (a nonprotein amino acid known to induce systemic lupuslike symptoms in humans) in H alpinum seeds.Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of H alpinum seeds was performed.Our analysis confirmed the presence of L-canavanine in H alpinum seeds and demonstrated that it is a significant component of the seeds, with a concentration of 1.2% (weight/weight), roughly half of that found in Canavalia ensiformis.The data led us to conclude it is highly likely that the consumption of H alpinum seeds contributed to the death of Chris McCandless.