vida@bu-geo.tmc.edu (Vida Jakabhazy) (01/03/91)
Occasionally, I will purchase tonic water and now that I'm married, hubby drinks lots. I've always known that it contains quinine which is used to cure malaria, however, I never knew where it came from. Flipped open the handy-dandy dictionary and found: n: a bitter white salt obtained from cinochona bark and used esp. in treating malaria I asked the next best source of info where cinochona(i) are found. My husband thinks that it is a south american tree. If it is, does this mean that I'm assisting in the destruction of tropical forests? I mean, removing bark from a tree is a real effective way of killing it. If anyone knows more about it, please post. Thanks very much, Vida Jakabhazy vida@bu-geo.bu.edu
mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel) (01/04/91)
In article <71500@bu.edu.bu.edu> vida@bu-geo.tmc.edu (Vida Jakabhazy) writes: >Occasionally, I will purchase tonic water and now that I'm married, hubby >drinks lots. I've always known that it contains quinine which is used to >cure malaria, however, I never knew where it came from. I noticed quinine on the list of ingredients in Brio, too. Does anyone know why quinine is added to these carbonated beverages? Marc R. Roussel mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (01/04/91)
In article <71500@bu.edu.bu.edu>, vida@bu-geo.tmc.edu (Vida Jakabhazy) writes: > Occasionally, I will purchase tonic water and now that I'm married, hubby > drinks lots. I've always known that it contains quinine which is used to > cure malaria, however, I never knew where it came from. Flipped open the > handy-dandy dictionary and found: > n: a bitter white salt obtained from cinochona bark and used esp. in > treating malaria There is *very* little quinine in tonic water. Since quinine has a very bitter and distinctive taste, a little bit goes a long way for flavoring purposes. Medicinal use of quinine is another matter, with a typical dosage being between 0.25 and 0.5 grams. That is at least 100 times the amount of quinine in any bottle of tonic water! > I asked the next best source of info where cinochona(i) are found. My > husband thinks that it is a south american tree. If it is, does this mean > that I'm assisting in the destruction of tropical forests? I mean, removing > bark from a tree is a real effective way of killing it. The cinochona tree is found in both South America and Indonesia. I would not lose much sleep over the loss of cinochona trees as a result of drinking tonic water; you are apt to cause the destruction of more trees through buying books and periodicals. Please get real. Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" VOICE: 716/688-1231 {boulder, rutgers, watmath}!ub!kitty!larry FAX: 716/741-9635 {utzoo, uunet}!/ \aerion!larry
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (01/04/91)
In article <1991Jan3.220842.27854@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>, mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel) writes: > I noticed quinine on the list of ingredients in Brio, too. Does anyone > know why quinine is added to these carbonated beverages? A small amount of quinine is added as a flavoring. Blech... Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" VOICE: 716/688-1231 {boulder, rutgers, watmath}!ub!kitty!larry FAX: 716/741-9635 {utzoo, uunet}!/ \aerion!larry
andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) (01/04/91)
In article <4287@kitty.UUCP> larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes: > The cinochona tree is found in both South America and Indonesia. > I would not lose much sleep over the loss of cinochona trees as a result > of drinking tonic water; you are apt to cause the destruction of more trees > through buying books and periodicals. Please get real. Actually the cinchona tree which yields quinine is endemic to south america. It is cultivated in a number of places in the tropics. Most quinine comes from plantations in Java. Andrew