General rhubarb

In the studies on rats, the amounts of spinach, cocoa, rhubarb, or oxalate salts fed were much higher than would normally be included in diets. The levels of calcium and vitamin D were generally low. 

Oxalic acid is poisonous to humans, but its concentrations are generally too low in foods to be of concern, although rhubarb leaves are quite poisonous. Lactic acid is produced from the fermentation of lactose, which is the principal sugar found in milk. The taste and smell of sour milk is due to the production of lactic acid from bacterial fermentation. Lactic acid accumulates in our muscles during exercise and strenuous physical activity. It is responsible for the sore, aching feeling often associated with these activities. Benzoic acid is the simplest aromatic carboxylic acid. 

Cotta s account of the hazards of cassia, rhubarb, and other generall remedies points to the difficulty, if not impossibility, of identifying any treatment as reliably safe. Writing about tobacco, no less an authority than James I noted that Medicine hath that vertue, that it neuer leaues a man in that state wherein it finds him. 18 Any transformation was unpredictable, and inevitably risky. 

G173. Kitchener s Peristaltic Persuaders. Turkey rhubarb, in powder, 2 drachms oil of caraway, 10 drops simple syrup, 1 drachm by weight mix, and divide into 40 pills. Dose, 2, 3, or more. Prom 2 to 4 will generally produce one additional motion within 12 hours. The best time to take them is early in the morning. 

Large and sturdy, perennial herbs with large leaves home on thick petioles stem up to 2-3 m high native to Asia (e.g., China, India, and southern Siberia) widely cultivated. Parts used are the dried rhizome and roots deprived of periderm (corky layer). Only plants 3 y or older are used. Chinese rhubarb, especially those from R. officinale and R. palmatum, are considered to be of the best quality. Those species with palmate rather than undulate leaves are generally considered the official drug source species or substitutes in China. 

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