Kratom contains dozens of unique alkaloids which are responsible for its effects. You may have heard of Mitragynine, which is the most prevalent alkaloid in kratom, but there are many, many more.
All of kratom’s dozens of known alkaloids work synergistically to create the effects we know and love, which is why we choose to display “Total Alkaloid %” as opposed to just Mitragynine. We believe that Total Alkaloid % is a more accurate representation of potency.
The alkaloids we recently started testing for, and that are showing up in significant quantities are: Paynantheine, Speciogynine, and Speciociliatine, research has shown these alkaloids are structural isomers of Mitragynine, so long story short, while they have some unique properties they act much in the same way as Mitragynine. To learn more about these alkaloids and what receptor sites they target in the body highly recommend watching Dr. Christopher McCurdy’s lecture on the topic (click here to watch).
Kratom science is evolving rapidly- when we launched in 2020 it was only possible to test for Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine. Today we test for 7 unique alkaloids and we hope that in a few years we’ll be testing for many more!
A note on Historic Mitragynine: To further complicate things, up until recently laboratories were not able to fully distinguish between Mitragynine and Paynantheine so they would lump together the two alkaloids as Mitragynine. That means that a 1.5% Mitragynine + 0.2% Paynantheine would read 1.7% Mitragynine on a lab test. Therefore, Historic Mitragynine is the combination of the 2 alkaloids so you can compare the potency of batches that you have had in the past prior to our expanded testing abilities.
While less thrilling than potency, health and safety is a priority for us. So each and every batch has been tested for:
Heavy metals: Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Arsenic
Kratom, like many natural products, always contains trace quantities of heavy metals. These can be the result of the natural environment and/or processing. We evaluate each and every batch to make sure that the products we are selling fall within the safety guidelines that the FDA has set out for herbal products.
Microbial contaminants: Salmonella, E-coli & Shiga toxin-producing E-coli, Yeast & Mold, Staphylococcus aureus, Aerobic plate count and Coliform bacteria.
Microbial contamination is a problem for all kinds of food products, kratom is no exception. We thoroughly test for harmful bacteria, especially the highest-risk factor: Salmonella.
Salmonella can be extremely harmful, and multiple Salmonella outbreaks in the US have been linked to untested or under-tested kratom. That’s why we break each Batch down into small 20kg Lots and combine 10 randomized samples from each individual lot to make sure we are not missing anything that could be harmful. If you want to see the additional salmonella test for your product, send us your lot # via email!
These readings have been measured against the AHPA (American Herbal Products Association) guidelines for herbal products to ensure the safety of our customers. If you would like help interpreting and understanding these labs please get in touch.
