Coca Chewing Research Articles

Innovative use of alkalis in the ancient Americas

Nixtamalization, from the Náhuatl nixtamalli, is a process in which maize is soaked in a vessel containing an alkali solution. The alkali processing of maize is essential in preparing corn for human consumption because it releases lysine and tryptophan and, most importantly, niacin. Without these, when the primary dietary staple is unprocessed maize, the result is malnutrition and disease, pellagra. Nixtamalization originated in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica but there was a paucity of corn processing in pre-Hispanic South America, even though corn was ubiquitous in both regions at a very early date. However, coca was similarly soaked in an alkali solution, with saliva, in the chewer’s mouth in ancient South America. Therefore, the coca chewer also processed plant material, coca, in order to release trace amounts of cocaine along with the vitamins B1, riboflavin and vitamin C. In this paper, I will briefly discuss corn processing in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and compare it with the ancient tradition of coca chewing in South America, emphasizing the ingenious adaptation of these counter intuitive techniques as survival strategies.

A Prehistoric Peruvian Oral Pathology Suggesting Coca Chewing

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Collaboration and discord in international debates about coca chewing, 1949–1950

This essay complicates our thinking about unequal North-South ‘collaborations’ by considering how distinct scientific traditions, national politics, forms of racial thinking, and conditions of internal colonialism in the global South shape relations with individuals and entities based in the global North. It does this by examining conflicts between Peruvian scientists and the United Nations’ Commission for the Study of the Coca Leaf, which visited Peru and Bolivia in 1949 to investigate the health effects of coca consumption on highland Indigenous populations. Sent at the Peruvian government’s invitation, commission members saw themselves as conducting a field survey. However, they quickly found themselves embroiled in conflict with a Peruvian high-altitude physiologist, Carlos Monge, who sought long-term, laboratory-based collaboration. Monge’s scholarship and experiments proved controversial for UN authorities because they emphasized the racial alterity of highland Indigenous peoples even as he and his peers disagreed about the health effects of coca chewing.

Behaviour of hygrine and cuscohygrine in illicit cocaine production establishes their use as markers for chewing coca leaves in contrast with cocaine abuse.

Hygrine (HYG) and cuscohygrine (CUS) are natural alkaloids of coca leaves but are not found in illicit cocaine seizures. Therefore, they were proposed as markers for coca chewing in contrast to cocaine abuse in urine and hair testing. In order to examine at which step of the illegal cocaine production these compounds are lost, coca leaves were processed according to an authentic procedure by extraction with lime and kerosene, re-extraction with sulphuric acid, and precipitation of coca paste with ammonia. Non-extracted and extracted coca leaves, acidic extract and coca paste were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for cocaine, ecgonine methyl ester (EME), cinnamoylcocaine (CIN), HYG, and CUS. It follows from the results that under these conditions, HYG and CUS are extracted only to a minor extent by kerosene and are not precipitated from the acidic re-extract in the coca paste. Due to this behaviour in illegal cocaine production, they fulfil the conditions as markers for coca chewing in an optimal way. However, for unambiguous discrimination between coca chewing and cocaine abuse in human samples, additional markers of manufactured cocaine are required. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lo andino, duality, and indigenous identities in Prehispanic highland Bolivia

ABSTRACTThis argument examines duality as part of a constellation of cultural traits used by Andean archaeologists in a prehistoric conception of lo andino, a regionally specific worldview and way of life that is presumed to have included ayllus, paired moieties, ecological complementarity or verticality, and dualism. Several lines of material evidence from Jachakala, a highland Bolivian site dating to ca. AD 170–1000, are presented. The timing of the appearance of duality at Jachakala suggests that the ideological division of the whole into two complementary halves may be most useful in times of crisis, as a mechanism for coping with socioenvironmental stress. The article compares this prehistoric version of lo andino to another version of cultural essentialism at work in Andean indigenous identity politics today, one that uses a different set of features (coca chewing, indigenous language and dress) to symbolize the regionally shared core of Andean indigenous cultures as a counterpoint to modernity.

Possibilities for discrimination between chewing of coca leaves and abuse of cocaine by hair analysis including hygrine, cuscohygrine, cinnamoylcocaine and cocaine metabolite/cocaine ratios.

Contrary to the illegal use of any form of manufactured cocaine, chewing of coca leaves and drinking of coca tea are allowed and are very common and socially integrated in several South American countries. Because of this different legal state, an analytical method for discrimination between use of coca leaves and abuse of processed cocaine preparations is required. In this study, the applicability of hair analysis for this purpose was examined. Hair samples from 26 Argentinean coca chewers and 22 German cocaine users were analysed for cocaine (COC), norcocaine (NC), benzoylecgonine (BE), ecgonine methyl ester (EME), cocaethylene (CE), cinnamoylcocaine (CIN), tropacocaine (TRO), cuscohygrine (CUS) and hygrine (HYG) by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) in combination with triplequad mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS). The following concentrations (range, median, ng/mg) were determined in hair of the coca chewers: COC 0.085-75.5, 17.0; NC 0.03-1.15, 0.12; BE 0.046-35.5, 6.1; EME 0.014-6.0, 0.66; CE 0.00-13.8, 0.38; CIN 0.005-16.8, 0.79; TRO 0.02-0.16, 0.023; CUS 0.026-26.7, 0.31. In lack of a reference substance, only qualitative data were obtained for HYG, and two metabolites of CUS were detected which were not found in hair of the cocaine users. For interpretation, the concentrations of the metabolites and of the coca alkaloids in relation to cocaine were statistically compared between coca chewers and cocaine users. By analysis of variance (ANOVA) significant differences were found for all analytes (α = 0.000 to 0.030) with the exception of TRO (α = 0.218). The ratios CUS/COC, CIN/COC and EME/COC appeared to be the most suitable criteria for discrimination between both groups with the means and medians 5-fold to 10-fold higher for coca chewers and a low overlap of the ranges between both groups. The same was qualitatively found for HYG. However, these criteria cannot exclude cocaine use in addition to coca chewing. In this regard screening for typical cutting agents can be helpful and led to the detection of levamisole (21×), lidocaine (6×) and paracetamol (3×) in the 22 samples from German cocaine users, whereas no levamisole, lidocaine (3×) and paracetamol (1×) were found in hair from the Argentinean coca chewers. These criteria have to be confirmed for South American cocaine consumers including smokers of coca paste and may be different because of different composition of the drug and other use habits.

Application of hygrine and cuscohygrine as possible markers to distinguish coca chewing from cocaine abuse on WDT and forensic cases

The objectives of present work are twofold. First, we want to verify that hygrine and cuscohygrine are good markers to distinguish between chewing coca leaves and cocaine abuse. Secondly, we try to develop a quick and easy qualitative method to determine the two mentioned markers.We analyzed two kinds of urine samples: the first group consisted of twenty-four (24) subjects: urine samples were obtained from various types of workers (e.g. doctors, chemists, nurses, technicians, painters, contractors, employees and some retired persons) who admitted chewing coca leaves. Frequency of the habit of chewing coca leaves was variable. They practiced “coqueo” between two (2) and forty-four (44) years. Sixteen (16) of them used alkaline substances to enhance the extraction of cocaine from the leaves The second group of urine samples consisted on thirty-eight (38) cocaine abusers, from forensic cases from Spain and Argentina. A GC/MS qualitative method, performed after liquid–liquid extraction, was developed and validated (the parameters studied were selectivity/specificity, LOD and stability), and then applied to the urine samples.Hygrine and cuscohygrine are good markers to distinguish between chewing coca leaves and cocaine abuse, and the qualitative method presented can be used successfully in workplace drug testing and forensic cases.

Hygrine and cuscohygrine as possible markers to distinguish coca chewing from cocaine abuse in workplace drug testing

Cocaine abuse is widespread all over the world, and is performed generally by sniffing, injecting or smoking cocaine or crack. The distinction between the recreational use of cocaine from the practice of the so called “coqueo” is still an issue in those countries where this habit is diffused and where it is not considered an addiction, by this reason is necessary to develop a method for to distinguish the coca chewers and cocaine abusers. The use of an unique marker to distinguish between cocaine abuse and chewing of coca leaves is of fundamental importance in those countries where this habit is diffused. Certain alkaloids of the leaves of Erythroxylum coca are lost during the process of extraction/purification of cocaine and it is not possible to find them neither in seizures of chlorhidrate of cocaine nor urine samples of cocaine abusers. These markers are the hygrine and cuscohygrine that are present in the leaves of E. coca.A fast GC/MS method involving a liquid:liquid extraction procedure with tertbutylmethylether (TBME) is proposed for the determination of some alkaloids in cocaine leaves, cocaine seizures and biological samples. All specimens were alkalinized to pH 9 with a carbonate/bicarbonate buffer and then extracted with TBME. The analysis was carry out by GC/MS with electron impact at 70eV and in full scan mode. The results demonstrate that hygrine and cuscohygrine are not found neither in the urine of cocaine abusers nor in cocaine seizures. For this reason this compounds could be considered as markers of coca chewing.This developed method permits to distinguish coca chewing from cocaine abuse in workplace drug testing through the analysis of urine samples.

Low-level environmental cadmium exposure is associated with DNA hypomethylation in Argentinean women.

Background: Cadmium, a common food pollutant, alters DNA methylation in vitro. Epigenetic effects might therefore partly explain cadmium’s toxicity, including its carcinogenicity; however, human data on epigenetic effects are lacking.Objective: We evaluated the effects of dietary cadmium exposure on DNA methylation, considering other environmental exposures, genetic predisposition, and gene expression.Methods: Concentrations of cadmium, arsenic, selenium, and zinc in blood and urine of nonsmoking women (n = 202) from the northern Argentinean Andes were measured by inductively coupled mass spectrometry. Methylation in CpG islands of LINE-1 (long interspersed nuclear element-1; a proxy for global DNA methylation) and promoter regions of p16 [cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A)] and MLH1 (mutL homolog 1) in peripheral blood were measured by bisulfite polymerase chain reaction pyrosequencing. Genotyping (n = 172) for the DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase 1 gene (DNMT1 rs10854076 and rs2228611) and DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase 3 beta gene (DNMT3B rs2424913 and rs2424932) was performed with Sequenom iPLEX GOLD SNP genotyping; and gene expression (n = 90), with DirectHyb HumanHT-12 (version 3.0).Results: Cadmium exposure was low: median concentrations in blood and urine were 0.36 and 0.23 µg/L, respectively. Urinary cadmium (natural log transformed) was inversely associated with LINE-1 methylation (β = –0.50, p = 0.0070; β = –0.44, p = 0.026, adjusted for age and coca chewing) but not with p16 or MLH1 methylation. Both DNMT1 rs10854076 and DNMT1 rs2228611 polymorphisms modified associations between urinary cadmium and LINE-1 (p-values for interaction in adjusted models were 0.045 and 0.064, respectively). The rare genotypes demonstrated stronger hypomethylation with increasing urinary cadmium concentrations. Cadmium was inversely associated with DNMT3B (rS = –0.28, p = 0.0086) but not with DNMT1 expression (rS = –0.075, p = 0.48).Conclusion: Environmental cadmium exposure was associated with DNA hypomethylation in peripheral blood, and DNMT1 genotypes modified this association. The role of epigenetic modifications in cadmium-associated diseases needs clarification.

Coca Chewing and High Altitude Adaptation

Coca Chewing and High Altitude Adaptation

Early Holocene coca chewing in northern Peru

Chewing coca in South America began by at least 8000 cal BP: our authors found and identified coca leaves of that date in house floors in the Nanchoc Valley, Peru. There were also pieces of calcite — which is used by chewers to bring out the alkaloids from the leaves. Excavation and chemical analysis at a group of neighbouring sites suggests that specialists were beginning to extract and supply lime or calcite, and by association coca, as a community activity at about the same time as systematic farming was taking off in the region.

Bioarchaeological Insights on Dental Health and Diet After the Fall of the Wari Empire in the Peruvian Andes

This research project looked at the dental health of Late Intermediate Period skeletons from the Wari capital to assess their consumption patterns. A high rate of dental disease coupled with carious lesions indicative of coca chewing supports the hypothesis that post-Wari populations maintained many of the agricultural practices and trade networks of the former state, including consumption of large quantities of maize and frequent coca chewing.

Elemental Analysis of Alkalis and Dental Deposits Associated with Coca Chewing in Ecuador

AbstractThe relationship between Andean coca use and dental deposits is explored through the use of scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Elemental analyses of samples of large dental deposits from archeologically recovered skeletons from Ecuador dating between 500 B.C. and A.D. 1532 are compared with those of normal calculus deposits of individuals from North America (modern and precontact), of normal tooth structure and of samples of alkali recovered from Ecuadorian artifacts thought to have been employed in coca use. Spectral analysis revealed homogeneity among all dental samples (deposits and structure) and that they are distinct from the elemental pattern revealed in the analysis of the artifact alkalis.

A Titicaca bundle mummy and an Atacameno mummy in the colection of the National Museum at Rio the Janeiro

At the beginning of the last century, scientific missions visited neighboring countries. These missions resulted in the exchange of archaeological and ethnographical collections, and improved the National Museum exhibitions of Peruvian and Chilean materials. A well preserved bundle was excavated from a chullpa, or stone tomb of the Titicaca Lake region. It is one of the best preserved mummies in our collection. Inside a specially coiled basket is a man sitting exhibiting annular skull defformation and interesting dental decay, possibly associated with coca chewing. Another very well preserved body with genitals comes from an Atacameño burial. A wool cap identifies his cultural affiliation. This second man was unearthed in a tomb in Chiu-Chiu, north of the Atacama desert in Chile, and shows signs of trauma in the face. A comparision of the different conditions that helped preserve the two mummies and their cultural and biological characteristics will be presented here.

Coca chewing in prehistoric coastal Peru: dental evidence.

In this study, we describe the dental health of four prehistoric human populations from the southern coast of Peru, an area in which independent archaeological evidence suggests that the practice of coca-leaf chewing was relatively common. A repeated pattern of cervical-root caries accompanying root exposure was found on the buccal surfaces of the posterior dentition, coinciding with the typical placement of coca quids during mastication. To further examine the association between caries patterning and coca chewing, caries site characteristics of molar teeth were utilized as indicators for estimating the likelihood of coca chewing for adults within each of the study samples. Likelihood estimates were then compared with results of a test for coca use derived from hair samples from the same individuals. The hair and dental studies exhibited an 85.7% agreement. Thus, we have demonstrated the validity of a hard-tissue technique for identifying the presence of habitual coca-leaf chewing in ancient human remains, which is useful in archaeological contexts where hair is not preserved. These data can be used to explore the distribution of coca chewing in prehistoric times. Simultaneously, we document the dental health associated with this traditional Andean cultural practice.

This Month in the Journal

This Month in the Journal

Coca chewing among high altitude natives: Work and muscular efficiencies of nonhabitual chewers.

The leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylum sp.) have long been chewed by natives of the highland Andes. Folk belief is that the mild stimulant effect is indispensable as an ergogenic aid for strenuous work activities in a high altitude environment. This study explored the exercise responses of 23 nonhabitual coca chewing males who were asked to pedal a bicycle ergometer through a series of submaximal and maximal workloads both with and without coca chewing. The protocol of the exercise test was specifically designed to allow for the determination of work and muscular efficiencies during to submaximal work. The subjects showed no differences between the coca and control work protocols for VO2 max (1/min), VCO2 max (1/min), or maximal work output (watts). Further, there were no differences between coca and control work protocols in oxygen saturation (%), pulmonary ventilation (1/min), or respiratory exchange ratio (VCO2 /VO2 ) at any level of work. Coca chewing caused subjects to have a higher heart rate (bpm) and lower oxygen pulse (ml/beat) for most submaximal workloads and higher ventilatory equivalents (VE/VO2 and VE/VCO2 ) above 50% of VO2 max. Although there was a tendency for higher gross efficiencies (GE) during the coca exercise test at lower relative work levels, between 30-40% of the VO2 max, this difference did not reach significance. Mean net efficiency (NE) was higher (P=0.018) at a relative work level of ∼32% of the VO2 max for exercise with coca (23.2% vs. 20.8%). This difference was not apparent at any other work level. The mean delta efficiency (DE) was significantly lower (P = 0.012) for exercise with coca (26.7%) than for exercise without coca (28.2%). These efficiency differences suggest a muscle metabolic effect for coca chewing at low workloads whereby less oxygen is consumed by the muscle to perform a given work task. Howeve, given the difficulty of interpreting efficiency values, it is not entirely clear if the differences are indicative of a work performance benefit for coca chewing. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effects of Coca Chewing on Maximal and Submaximal Exercise Performance

Effects of Coca Chewing on Maximal and Submaximal Exercise Performance

Effect of coca‐leaf chewing on salivary progesterone assays

Although there is evidence for reduced fertility in Andean and Himalayan populations at higher altitudes, factors other than hypoxia may be primarily responsible. A valuable approach in the investigation of these fertility determinants is the use of salivary steroid assays. However, coca-leaf chewing--a ubiquitous practice among high altitude Andean populations--has negative consequences for the accurate measurement of ovarian steroids. This report evaluates the effects of coca-leaf chewing on assays of salivary progesterone. Study participants include naive and habitual users of coca leaf from La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia. Approximately 300 saliva samples were collected immediately before, during, and after coca-leaf chewing. The series includes samples with and without the alkaloid enhancer typically used by coca-leaf chewers. Coca chewing produces false salivary progesterone values that mimic luteal phase values. On the basis of this study, an appropriate protocol is developed for the collection of salivary samples in coca-leaf chewing populations. These results verify the feasibility of salivary assays, even for very difficult field conditions, and highlight the necessity of establishing suitable collection procedures before full field implementation of saliva sampling.

Coca Chewing and Diet

Previous articleNext article No AccessCoca Chewing and DietRoderick E. Burchard, Ralph Bolton, Dwight B. Heath, Matthew H. Hill, Michael Hopp, William R. Leonard, Nancy J. Pollock, S. S. Strickland, Jim Weil, and Christine S. WilsonRoderick E. Burchard Search for more articles by this author , Ralph Bolton Search for more articles by this author , Dwight B. Heath Search for more articles by this author , Matthew H. Hill Search for more articles by this author , Michael Hopp Search for more articles by this author , William R. Leonard Search for more articles by this author , Nancy J. Pollock Search for more articles by this author , S. S. Strickland Search for more articles by this author , Jim Weil Search for more articles by this author , and Christine S. Wilson Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 33, Number 1Feb., 1992 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/204028 Views: 6Total views on this site Citations: 26Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1992 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Introduction, (Jan 2019): 1–26.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-001 The Rise of the Coca Unions, (Jan 2019): 27–57.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-002 The Lowest Rung of the Cocaine Trade, (Jan 2019): 58–83.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-003 Self-Governing in the Chapare, (Jan 2019): 84–108.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-004 From Class to Ethnicity, (Jan 2019): 109–127.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-005 Community Coca Control, (Jan 2019): 128–149.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-006 The Unions and Local Government, (Jan 2019): 150–172.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-007 The Coca Union’s Radio Station, (Jan 2019): 173–191.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-008 Conclusion, (Jan 2019): 192–201.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-009 Notes, (Jan 2019): 203–214.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-010 References, (Jan 2019): 215–248.https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004332-011Thomas Grisaffi Social Control in Bolivia: A Humane Alternative to the Forced Eradication of Coca Crops, (Jul 2016): 149–166.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29082-9_9Lidio M ValdezJuan Taboada, and J. Ernesto Valdez Ancient Use of Coca Leaves in the Peruvian Central Highlands, Journal of Anthropological Research 71, no.22 (Dec 2015): 231–258.https://doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0071.204Hattie Wells Sacrament or substance of abuse?, Drugs and Alcohol Today 7, no.22 (Jul 2007): 32–42.https://doi.org/10.1108/17459265200700014Douglas H. Ubelaker, Karen E. Stothert Elemental Analysis of Alkalis and Dental Deposits Associated with Coca Chewing in Ecuador, Latin American Antiquity 17, no.11 (Jan 2017): 77–89.https://doi.org/10.2307/25063037Christine S. Wilson Reply to Comments, Appetite 38, no.11 (Feb 2002): 87–88.https://doi.org/10.1006/appe.2001.0456 Introduction, (Jan 1999): 1–15.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-001 The Tupac Amaru Rebellion, (Jan 1999): 16–54.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-002 Smoldering Ashes, (Jan 1999): 55–83.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-003 The Arrival of Saint Patria, (Jan 1999): 84–120.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-004 Cuzco’s Black Angel, (Jan 1999): 121–151.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-005 The War of the Words, (Jan 1999): 152–185.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-006 From Colony to Republic and from Indian to Indian, (Jan 1999): 186–221.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-007 Conclusions, (Jan 1999): 222–230.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-008 Notes, (Jan 1999): 231–288.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-009 Bibliography, (Jan 1999): 289–319.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822382164-010