A question was asked can we identify if the specialized rain forest honey had been adulterated and diluted with sucrose. As honey is comprised of fructose, glucose, sucrose and maltose with a carbon content of approximately 40% carbon, and the 13C content is distinctly different between these plant sources, we can measure the delta 13C to determine its source.
There is the old saying "we are what we eat", in mass spectrometry this is very true. The delta 13C content of the honey produced by the bees will reflect the 13C content of the nectar, which in turn will be related to the 13C content of the plant. Carbon in sugar is derived from a C4 plant (sugar cane) and plants with this particular carbon cycle have a delta 13C PDB of approximately -10.5 per mil, while the carbon that is present in the sugars derived from the trees will have a delta 13C PDB of approximately -22 per mil, due to the different carbon fractionations associated with plants with a C3 carbon cycle. Consequently it is a simple matter of measuring the delta 13C PDB of the unknown rain forest honey sample to determine if it has been adulterated with cane sugar. Below are the results from the analysis run associated with this test.
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