LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Quinine
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Quinine bark is harvested today much as it has been for hundreds of years. The tree trunks are beaten and the peeling bark is removed. The bark partially regenerates on the tree and, after a few years and several cycles of bark removal, the trees are uprooted and new ones are planted. The commercial quinine market today is difficult to calculate. It is thought that 300-500 metric tons of quinine alkaloids are extracted annually from 5,000-10,000 metric tons of harvested bark. Nearly half of the harvest is directed to the food industry for the production of quinine water, tonic water, and as an FDA-approved bitter food additive.
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Quinine was the first effective treatment for malaria caused by P falciparum, appearing in therapeutics in the 17th century. It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s, when other drugs took over. Since then, many effective antimalarials have been introduced, although quinine is still used to treat the disease in certain critical situations. Quinine is available with a prescription in the United States. Quinine is ... used to treat nocturnal leg cramps and arthritis, and there have been attempts (with limited success) to treat prion diseases. It was once a popular heroin adulterant.
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Quinine has a long, rich history. The only FDA-approved indication for quinine sulfate is the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. AR Scientific, Inc.'s Qualaquin™ (quinine sulfate 324-mg capsules) is FDA-approved for treating uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. Qualaquin oral capsules are not approved for patients with severe or complicated P. falciparum malaria. Qualaquin oral capsules are not approved for prevention of malaria. Qualaquin oral capsules are not approved for the treatment or prevention of nocturnal leg cramps.7
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Quinine within itself has a great capacity for relaxing tense muscles. For generations, it has been used to help persons who have experienced just about every type of involuntary muscle tensing or contraction. This capacity makes quinine sulfate for RLS a very desirable means of treatment. Because the quinine is able to alleviate the muscle cramps without making the legs feel as if they have been turned to jelly, the patient does not experience the feeling of losing control of their legs and mobility. Rather the quinine sulfate for RLS restores the assurance that the individual is once again in control of his or her ability to move at will.
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Quinine has been referred to as "Jesuits' bark," "cardinal's bark," and "sacred bark." Its name stems from its use in 1630 by Jesuit missionaries in the Andes (a mountain range in western South America). A legend suggests earlier use by the native population. According to the legend, an Indian with a high fever was lost in an Andean jungle. When he drank from a pool of stagnant (standing) water, he found it tasted bitter. Realizing it had been contaminated by the surrounding quina-quina trees he thought he was poisoned. But his fever abated, and thereafter his village used extracts made from quina-quina bark to treat fevers.
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Quinine increases the tension response to a single maximal stimulus delivered to the muscle directly or through the nerve, but it ... increases the refractory period of the muscle so that the response to tetanic stimulation is diminished. The excitability of the motor end-plate region decreases so that responses to repetitive nerve stimulation and to acetylcholine are reduced. Thus, quinine can antagonize the actions of physostigmine on skeletal muscle as does curare. The same mechanism, however, may provoke alarming respiratory distress in patients with myasthenia gravis (Webster, 1990). On uterine muscle it may be oxytocic to the pregnant uterus (Rollo, 1975).
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Quinine