Tartaric acid mainly exists in the form of potassium in the fruits of many kinds of plants, also with a small amount of free existence. Industrial glucose fermentation is commonly used to making right handed tartaric acid, Raceme can be made of fumaric acid with the potassium permanganate oxidation was; Mesomer can use maleic acid potassium permanganate oxidation system. Left-handed wine acid can be obtained by raceme resolution. In tartaric acid in the field of practical application, the main use right handed tartaric acid or its double salts, a by-product of grape wine made from stone is the main raw material of the actual production tartaric acid, tartaric acid production by are right-handed.
A toxicology manual indicates that tartaric acid is a highly toxic substance. As little as 12g has caused human fatality with death occurring from 12 hours to 9 days after ingestion. Gastrointestinal symptoms were marked and followed by cardiovascular collapse and/or acute renal failure. A gram is approximately the weight of a cigarette. This compound especially damages the muscles and the kidney and may even cause fatal human nephropathy which was of interest to me since the two brothers with autism initially evaluated had the extreme muscle weakness as well as evidence of impaired renal function.
Interestingly, tartaric acid is also elevated in urine samples of adults with the disorder fibromyalgia, a debilitating disease associated with muscle and joint pain, depression, foggy thinking, and chronic fatigue. Values for tartaric acid in urine may be extremely elevated in autism. A young Korean child with autism had a value of 6000 mmol/mol creatinine, a value that is about 600 times the median normal value. Assuming that the yeast in the intestine of the child were producing tartaric acid at a constant rate, this child would be exposed to 4.5 grams per day of tartaric acid, over one-third of the reported lethal dose of tartaric acid! Proponents of the theory that wheat gluten sensitivity is the main biochemical abnormality in autism would have difficulty in explaining this case since rice was the only grain in this child's diet.
A toxicology manual indicates that tartaric acid is a highly toxic substance. As little as 12g has caused human fatality with death occurring from 12 hours to 9 days after ingestion. Gastrointestinal symptoms were marked and followed by cardiovascular collapse and/or acute renal failure. A gram is approximately the weight of a cigarette. This compound especially damages the muscles and the kidney and may even cause fatal human nephropathy which was of interest to me since the two brothers with autism initially evaluated had the extreme muscle weakness as well as evidence of impaired renal function.
Interestingly, tartaric acid is also elevated in urine samples of adults with the disorder fibromyalgia, a debilitating disease associated with muscle and joint pain, depression, foggy thinking, and chronic fatigue. Values for tartaric acid in urine may be extremely elevated in autism. A young Korean child with autism had a value of 6000 mmol/mol creatinine, a value that is about 600 times the median normal value. Assuming that the yeast in the intestine of the child were producing tartaric acid at a constant rate, this child would be exposed to 4.5 grams per day of tartaric acid, over one-third of the reported lethal dose of tartaric acid! Proponents of the theory that wheat gluten sensitivity is the main biochemical abnormality in autism would have difficulty in explaining this case since rice was the only grain in this child's diet.