Realgar wine

Realgar wine or xionghuang wine (Chinese: 雄黃酒, xiónghuángjiǔ) is a Chinese alcoholic drink that consists of Chinese cereal wine (huangjiu, "yellow wine") dosed with powdered realgar, a yellow-orange arsenic sulfide mineral (As4S4). It is traditionally consumed as part of the Dragon Boat Festival at the height of Chinese summer.

Tradition

A pesticide and insecticide used (particularly) against mosquitoes, realgar was considered to be a universal antidote against poison by traditional Chinese medicine, which therefore advocated its use for protection against disease, snakes, and evil spirits. The Dragon Boat Festival in fact coincided with what Chinese astronomy considered the height of summer and yang's force for the year. Adults were advised to consume huangjiu (as alcohol is considered yin) dosed with pesticide; children too young to handle it would have a 王 ("king") drawn on their forehead or chest with the realgar slurry from the wine, to protect them. They could also wear an amulet containing or made of realgar.

These practices were later connected with the festivities honoring poet and statesman Qu Yuan (340–278 BC), who killed himself in protest by drowning in a river.[1] According to legend, locals rushed in boats to save him or preserve his body from being eaten by the fish. A doctor among them is said to have cast realgar into the river, drawing out an aquatic dragon which the boatmen promptly killed.

Preparation

Realgar wine can be bought ready made, but it is often prepared from home-made yellow wine and realgar mineral powder bought from drugstores, markets or street vendors. A typical recipe calls for 50 to 100 g of realgar powder added to one litre of home-made wine, the mixture then being left to stand at room temperature for a couple of hours.[2][1]

Health risks

Although practiced for many centuries, the drinking of realgar wine and the painting of children with realgar during have recently been the matter of concern. Realgar itself has low toxicity when ingested, since its poor solubility hampers its absorption in the gastrointestinal tract; but the minerals used in realgar wine may contain substantial amounts of other inorganic arsenic compounds, such as arsenate and arsenite, which can be absorbed by the body.[1] Arsenic is a potent poison and causal factor in urinary bladder, skin, liver and lung cancers.[2] There have been a number of poisonings associated with realgar ingestion.[2]

Samples of realgar wine were found to contain from 70 to 400 mg of dissolved arsenic compounds per litre[1] (compared to less than 0.003 mg/L of the home-made wine itself), mostly as arsenite and arsenate. That is more than a thousand times the maximum concentration of arsenic legally allowed in commercial liquor. The concentration of dissolved arsenic decreased with increased ethanol content.[1] Consumption of 200 mL of the realgar wine with 70 mg/Lcaused substantial increase of arsenic levels in urine, to 200 μg/l.[2] Levels of 80 μg/l or more were obsered in children who had their face painted with leftover realgar slurry, indicating absorption through the skin.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Zhang YN, Sun GX, Williams PN, Huang Q, Zhu YG (2011) Assessment of the solubility and bioaccessibility of arsenic in realgar wine using a simulated gastrointestinal system. Sci Total Environ, volume 409, issue 12, pages 2357-2360. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.03.003
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Zhang YN, Sun GX, Huang Q, Williams PN, Zhu YG (2011) A cultural practice of drinking realgar wine leading to elevated urinary arsenic and its potential health risk. Environ Int., volume 37, issue 5, pages 889-892. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2011.02.020