History

• Quinine is found in cinchona bark and was used by native South Americans to treat malaria. Europeans first encountered the drug in the mid-seventeenth century.
  
  

Early Uses

• Quinine was originally added to tonic water as an anti-malarial treatment. According to legend, gin and tonics were born as a way to mask quinine's bitterness.
  
  

Malaria Treatment

• Both natural and synthetic quinine are still used today to treat strains of malaria that have grown resistant to other safer drugs.
  
  

Leg Cramps

• The FDA has not approved quinine as a treatment for leg cramps. It has dangerous side effects, including blood clotting and death, that may be an acceptable risk for life-threatening disease but not for less serious conditions.
  
  

Modern Tonic Water

• Today, tonic water only contains twenty milligrams of quinine per six ounces. It would take up to five gallons of tonic water a day to treat malaria.