Tonic water contains quinine, because (I gather) quinine was the “tonic” against malaria in Britain’s colony days. So is the dose in tonic water today the same as it was when it was being used medicinally? If so, does drinking tonic water today actually affect my chances of getting malaria? If not, why do soft drink companies keep putting it in?
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Nice try, sport, but no dice. Tonic water contains less than 20 milligrams of quinine per six fluid ounces. The recommended quinine dosage for treatment of malaria is two or three 200-350 milligram tablets three times a day. If you drink the equivalent of that in gin and tonics, malaria will be the least of your problems.
Tonic water was never intended as a cure or preventive for malaria, but malaria is the reason the quinine is in there. Quinine has a bitter taste. To make the stuff palatable when used as an antidote for fevers, legend has it, British colonials in India mixed quinine with gin and lemon or lime. Over time they learned to love the god-awful stuff. (You can see this principle at work in a lot of British cuisine.) Tonic water was granted an English patent in 1858, Schweppes brought it to the United States in 1953, and to this day it remains an essential component of Anglo-American mixology. Quinine is also used, along with other herbs, to flavor vermouth.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
