The Wormwood Society

Below is a partial list of the many species, subspecies and varieties in the genus Artemisia, which will illustrate just how large the genus is and how many of the plants are known as "wormwoods".  Only one however, Artemisia absinthium, is the plant which qualifies the spirit we know as absinthe.

How does the "louche" work in absinthe?  This scientific look as pastis, absinthe's anise successor explains:

Abstract:

The well-known alcoholic beverage Pastis becomes turbid when mixed with water due to the poor solubility of trans-anethol, the anise-flavored component of Pastis in the water solution formed. This destabilization appears as the formation of micrometer-sized droplets that only very slowly grow in size, thus expanding the life of the anise-flavored beverage. The slow growth has been attributed to an extremely low interfacial tension of the droplets.

Thujone is a monoterpenoid ketone consisting of two isomers, alpha and beta, that exist in varying ratios in different plants.  Plants such as cedar leaf, sage, tansy, thyme, rosemary and wormwood (an ingredient found in certain flavored distilled spirits such as absinthe) are known to contain thujone.  According to the FDA, alcoholic beverages must be thujone-free pursuant to 21 CFR 172.510.  TTB has developed a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS) screening method that may be used to quantitate total thujone (alpha + beta) in distilled spirits.  The method has not been validated for wines, malt beverages, or nonbeverage products. Since menthol is added as an internal standard, all test samples should be verified for the absence of menthol.

The following is a synopsis of TTB’s thujone screening method.  The full screening method will be posted on TTB’s website in December 2007.

Summary

The media coverage about absinthe, a bitter spirit containing wormwood (Artemisia absinthum L.), continues to repeat unsubstantiated myths and legends and the public is systematically misinformed. Especially, the theory about a significant thujone content in absinthe must be put into perspective ...

The full article may be purchased from Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture .

1. Introduction

Absinthe was one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in late 19^th century Europe. The emerald green drink was consumed by people from all walks of life, including the bohemian upper class, artists, poets and intellectuals. The most remarkable celebrity known as an absinthe drinker is the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).  Other famous painters of the time, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gaugin, and illustrious poets like Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, and Edgar Allan Poe were all fond of absinthe.

The wormwood plant (Artemisia absinthium L.) gave absinthe its name and is, together with alcohol, the main component of this spirit drink. Renewed interest in absinthe has been raised by the fact that, after a long prohibition in many European countries, wormwood was again allowed as an ingredient in alcoholic beverages in 1988. Currently over 100 types of absinthe are legally available (Lachenmeier et al. 2006).

During our research on absinthe, we discovered that there is a general misunderstanding amongst the public, as well as in the scientific community, about the properties of absinthe in general, and the thujone content in particular. It is remarkable that, even in peer-reviewed journals, unsubstantiated myths and legends are continually repeated.

Abstract

Absinthe, a bitter spirit containing wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.), was banned at the beginning of the 20th century as consequence of its supposed unique adverse effects. After nearly centurylong prohibition, absinthe has seen a resurgence after recent de-restriction in many European countries. This review provides information on the history of absinthe and one of its constituent, thujone. Medical and toxicological aspects experienced and discovered before the prohibition of absinthe are discussed in detail, along with their impact on the current situation. The only consistent conclusion that can be drawn from those 19th century studies about absinthism is that wormwood oil but not absinthe is a potent agent to cause seizures. Neither can it be concluded that the beverage itself was epileptogenic nor that the so-called absinthism can exactly be distinguished as a distinct syndrome from chronic alcoholism.

ABSTRACT.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether the impacts of absinthe on attention performance and mood were different from those experienced with beverages that contain only alcohol. The ingredient causing absinthe's toxicity is believed to be thujone.

Method: A total of 25 healthy subjects participated in the study. An attention performance test and two questionnaires testing different mood dimensions were used. Three drinks with an identical amount of alcohol but with different amounts of thujone were offered.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

HEALTH & CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

Directorate C -Scientific Opinions
C2 - Management of scientific committees; scientific co-operation and networks

Scientific Committee on Food
SCF/CS/FLAV/FLAVOUR/23 ADD2 Final
6 February 2003

Opinion of the
Scientific Committee on Food on
Thujone

(expressed on 2 December 2002)

Absinthe has always had an ambivalent history, on one hand it was praised as ‘The Green Muse’ by its devotees, and on the other it was condemned by it detractors as a cause of madness and moral degeneracy. But is there any scientific or medical basis for either position?

Evidence for mind-altering effects is largely anecdotal and the frequently quoted first-hand descriptions of its mind-altering effects have come from artists and poets who may be expected to describe events in a fanciful manner. Imbibers of alcohol have always described their favourite tipple in extravagant terms, whether it be Burns on whisky or Yeats on wine. The case for its harmful effect is largely based on research on laboratory animals conducted at the behest of the prohibitionist lobby and assumptions drawn from examinations of mental patients in the late 19th century.

Published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, April 2002

Abstract

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) had an eccentric personality and unstable moods, suffered from recurrent psychotic episodes during the last 2 years of his extraordinary life, and committed suicide at the age of 37. Despite limited evidence, well over 150 physicians have ventured a perplexing variety of diagnoses of his illness. Henri Gastaut, in a study of the artist’s life and medical history published in 1956, identified van Gogh’s major illness during the last 2 years of his life as temporal lobe epilepsy precipitated by the use of absinthe in the presence of an early limbic lesion. In essence, Gastaut confirmed the diagnosis originally made by the French physicians who had treated van Gogh. However, van Gogh had earlier suffered two distinct episodes of reactive depression, and there are clearly bipolar aspects to his history. Both episodes of depression were followed by sustained periods of increasingly high energy and enthusiasm, first as an evangelist and then as an artist. The highlights of van Gogh’s life and letters are reviewed and discussed in an effort toward better understanding of the complexity of his illness.

A fascinating account of the genetic science behind why some people abhor sugar in their absinthe, and why others can't drink it without.

Abstract

-Thujone is the toxic agent in absinthe, a liqueur popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries that has adverse health effects. It is also the active ingredient of wormwood oil and some other herbal medicines and is reported to have antinociceptive, insecticidal, and anthelmintic activity.

This study elucidates the mechanism of -thujone neurotoxicity and identifies its major metabolites and their role in the poisoning process.

Published in the British Medical Journal

Though absinthe is intriguing, it is alcohol in general we should worry about.

Absinthe, the emerald green liqueur associated with excess, is back in business. Having been banned in many countries in the early 20th century, its newly fashionable image, combined with global purchasing opportunities through the internet, has brought its revival. Since 1998 several varieties of absinthe have again been available in Britain—from bars, stores, and mail order.  But is absinthe a special problem or simply part of a general concern about excessive alcohol consumption?

College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky. Lexington, Kentucky 40506 (U.S.A.) / (Received May 12,1980; accepted February 28, 1981)

The 1850s and 1860s in France have been described as a "gilded age". "It was a parvenu period: get rich quick, show off, enjoy. Gamblers, profiteers, and demimondaines held the center of the stage.... It was then that La Vie Parisienney as a play, as a magazine, and as a mode of life, became a byword for meretricious gaiety" (Guerard, 1959; Richardson, 1971).

During the period, a liqueur— absinthe — became identified with the Bohemian spirit that prevailed. On the boulevards, between five and six o'clock — the hour of absinthe — Parisians from all walks of life gathered to sit outside the cafes and drink their customary glasses of this green, anise-flavored liqueur.

Scientific American. New Series, Volume 20, Issue 14, Apr 3, 1869

It appears that until 1864 the belief that there was nothing injurious in absinthe except the alcohol, was general enough. In that year, however, a mad doctor named Marce, communicated a paper to the Academy of Sciences, in which he demonstrated that the essence of wormwood was contained in the liquor called absinthe, in the proportion of twenty grammes of essence to 100 liters of alcohol, and argued that this essence had a peculiarly injurious effect on the brain.

In 1867 a petition was presented to the Senate, praying that the sale of absinthe might be absolutely forbidden. Nothing came of it; and now the question of absinthe~~ has been once more brought forward by two physicians, MM. Magnan and Bouchereau, who, for the first time, have made regular scientific experiments with the questionable stuff. The object of the experimentalists was to show what the effect of pure alcohol would be on a guinea-pig, and what the effect of absinthe.

With this view, they placed a guinea-pig under a glass case, with a saucer full of essence of wormwood by his side, another guinea-pig being placed under another glass case with a saucer full of alcohol. The guinea-pig, who, so to say, was being treated with absinthe, sniffed at the fumes, and for a few moments seemed, like the ordinary absinthe drinker, supremely happy. Gradually, however, be became heavy and dull, and at last fell on his side, agitating his limbs convulsively, foaming at the mouth, and presenting all the signs of epilepsy. The same epileptic symptoms were manifested on the part of a cat and rabbit, who, in a similar manner, were made to inhale the fumes of absinthe.