My herbarium Quinine, from fever bark to the champion of anti-hair loss

It is all around us, it has been with us since our childhood, it is in our products and on our plates. Eva Dumaine, botanist, tells us about plants in her own words. And exceptional natural assets.

You may not know its name, but you can taste it on the tip of your tongue. Quinine, an extract from the bark of the Cinchona tree, gives a deliciously bitter taste to tonics that are mixed with gins and vodkas for a little kick that makes the taste buds tingle. My first encounter, dipping my lips in the bitter cocktail that had strayed to my side of the table, had resulted in a frown and a more than doubtful pout! A few years later, I wouldn't say no, but that's another story! What fascinates me about Quinine is that long before it arrived in our glasses, it passed through time on the shoulders of the conquistadors, treated kings, healed popes and armies, and finally became our most-trusted ally in strengthening thinning hair! A real hero whose history can be recounted in just a few sentences...

The Red Cinchona is found on the slopes of the Andes, where it is known as " fever bark " since the dawn of time, but it was not until it was brought to Europe by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century that it began to appear in medical treatments. Prized by the Popes in Rome for the effectiveness of the decoctions drawn from its bark against malaria and the fevers that ravaged the city each summer, he overturned the traditional medicine of bloodletting by " miraculously "curing King Charles II of England and the Dauphin of France.

The study of the action of its bark extracts and the identification of its flagship molecule, Quinine, led to the development of the first anti-malarial drugs, which were used en masse until the Second World War when, after the destruction of most stocks, a synthetic alternative was preferred. In the 1970s, Klorane took an interest in this " tonic ", the extent of whose properties was gradually discovered: its unique combination of alkaloids and proanthocyanidins proved to be impressive in acting on angiogenesis (the hair growth phase). Result: more than half a century after it was first used in formulas, our leading range preventing the loss of hair in Europe is still based on the effectiveness of Quinine, now combined with Swiss Alpine Edelweiss and Manganese for a complete action on the entire hair cycle. Our eco-responsible supply chain in Ecuador, the original home of the Cinchona, supports local producers in their efforts to preserve the resource by sizing bark removals in relation to the regeneration capacity of the trees. The Klorane Botanical Foundation is also developing sustainable reforestation projects. You'll think about that the next time you order a G n' T!