Botanicals & extracts
Blamed for a century of absinthe madness. Measured in preserved pre-ban bottles, there was never enough of it to matter.
Not yet investigated
Blamed for a century of absinthe madness. Measured in preserved pre-ban bottles, there was never enough of it to matter.
This star is on the map because the show intends to take the question apart properly — the trials, how it is actually tested, whether the thing sold is the thing studied. That work is not done yet, and nothing here should be read as a conclusion. When the investigation is published it will appear on this page.
What we are reading
Gathered for the investigation and not yet written up. Each note says what the paper does and does not show.
The dose-response argument, stated plainly: thujone is present in both modern and historic pre-ban absinthe at concentrations so low that a pharmacological effect can be excluded outright. Absinthism, as described in 1890s France, is explained by chronic alcohol misuse alone. The author's warning is worth keeping — blaming thujone trivialises the alcohol.
The obvious objection to measuring century-old bottles is that the thujone might have degraded. It did not: green glass blocked the light, samples reanalysed years apart were unchanged, and only clear-glass storage under UV lost any (18%). The historical measurement stands.
Connected on the map
Also in Botanicals & extracts
The letter
The full citation list for each investigation, the studies that didn't make the episode, and any corrections — sent the morning it publishes.
No sponsors · No supplement affiliates · Unsubscribe any time
