Chemical Beverage Signatures Allow Geographical Tracking of People By What They've Been Drinking

By Rebecca Boyle Posted 06.30.2010 at 2:13 pm 8 Comments

Trackable Beverages This tap water "isoscape" map shows how hydrogen and oxygen isotopes vary throughout the country. Geographic factors like latitude, altitude and proximity to coasts all play a role in this isotopic variation. The cities on the map show where the researchers tested tap water along with bottled water, soda and beer. ACS/Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Your beer can tell you where you’ve been, according to a new study by researchers in Utah. No, not because of the strength of your hangover -- it’s all about chemistry.

Beer, bottled water and soda have a natural chemical signature related to geographic location, and drinking them leaves a chemical fingerprint in your hair. The fingerprint could be used to track your travels over time, according to the study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

It works by measuring different isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen. The proportion of those isotopes varies according to geographic differences like altitude and latitude -- it’s different in Denver compared to Dallas or Des Moines, according to the American Chemical Society. The differences yield an “iso-signature” that can be tied to specific regions.

This signature shows up in your hair. As ACS explains, the body removes hydrogen and oxygen atoms from water and incorporates them into proteins, including keratin, which is in your hair. This means the hydrogen and oxygen isotopes would show up in those proteins, and if you know which isotope patterns exist in which spots, you can deduce where -- if not what -- someone had been drinking.

To test this theory, the scientists analyzed tap water from 33 cities and looked at isotope patterns in Dasani bottled water, Coca-Cola Classic and Budweiser. They found the beverage isotope pattern from those cities matched the tap water pattern -- which makes sense, because many beverage companies produce their drinks regionally instead of in one main location. For example, if you drink a Bud in Utah, it probably came from the Anheuser-Busch plant in Fort Collins, Colo., not St. Louis.

The study could tell the difference, although the regional isotopic signatures of beer and soda were not as strong. The authors say this might be because the manufacturing process changes the water’s chemistry, making the isotopic correlation less obvious.

Other exceptions would include regionally produced bottled water, which comes from a specific spring, and some national brands.

But for the most part, bottled beverages can be used to deduce purchase location, the authors say. The data could allow forensic investigators to predict the original source of the water in your beer, and thus figure out where you’ve been.

American Chemical Society

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8 Comments

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cruzinmy64

06/30/10 at 2:41 pm

Ok, so besides tracking, is there any other significance? Is water worse in the "red" areas and better in the "blue", etc?

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neuenkir

06/30/10 at 3:41 pm

I think it would be difficult to determine this unless a person had been in one region for a long enough time for their hair to grow a considerable length. I mean, if a person moved to a new area, or traveled for extended periods for whatever reason, their hair would be stratified. Interesting though nonetheless.

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A_Rock

07/01/10 at 4:08 am

So can they tell where my drugs were cooked from my piss? That's be cool... In a horrifying way... Wait. I smoke weed lol

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CDales1004

07/01/10 at 10:32 am

Although kinda interesting, I am a bit skeptical of this.

Beer, bottled water and Soda is usually made in a few locations and shipped all over the world.

So, if I drink Coke(which I believe is made in Atlanta, Ga), how is that going to tell these scientists where I have travelled?

All it can tell them is that I had a Coke that came from Atlanta. Not where I am or was.

Now, if they use this with local tap-water, then I can see how it would work

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rosen380

07/01/10 at 3:10 pm

Think about how many cokes get drunk i nthe US each day and then consider how likely it is that every one of them was produced i na plant in Atlanta.

There are coke and pepsi bottling plants all over the place [even here in the just the 56th largest television market :)].

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CDales1004

07/01/10 at 5:29 pm

Fair enough Rosen....a little more digging on my end came up with the fact that Coke creates the syrup in Atlanta and ships it to local bottlers who then use local water supply.

The point was that if they do not use local water supplies, then this wont be effective.

A good example might be water bottled from Poland Spring (last I checked, it was only bottled there).

How about Heinekin beer...that definitely is NOT produced in the US (well, I cant imagine that it is).

I didnt discount the validity of their claim, just felt that there are more scenarios that may throw off their results. Especially if the person being tested didnt really drink from local water supply (highly unlikely, i know)

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freddy

07/02/10 at 2:24 pm

red areas ARE better than blue areas...........

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soylent

07/05/10 at 9:39 am

Freddy, do you mind explaining why you think it desirable to have a minutely elevated amount of oxygen-18 in your drinking water?

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