In 1950s, China's economic development was relatively backward and its environmental sanitation conditions were relatively poor. Almost all the people in the country will be troubled by a disease, that is, ascariasis, which had a great influence on China people at that time. Because ascaris lumbricoides is a parasite, it can live in human intestines, and because ascaris lumbricoides is in human body, it is very troublesome to treat. If people get ascariasis, they will have abdominal pain and no appetite, and some serious patients will have terrible spots like insect spots on their faces.
The medicine made by the relevant departments is Baota sugar, so this Baota sugar is not sugar, but medicine. The main component of Baota sugar is Artemisia capillaris, which is a semi-shrub plant. According to the research of medical staff, Artemisia argyi has a strong anthelmintic effect, so the researchers at that time extracted a drug that can drive ascaris from this drug. Considering that most patients with ascariasis are children, medical staff are worried that they can't eat bitter medicine, so they combine the pharmaceutical method with the usual method of making candy, which is what we see as Baota candy.
At that time, China was in the primary stage of development, and many industrial lines were not perfect. Fortunately, at that time, we had a good friend, the Soviet Union, who sent many experts to help our country tide over the difficulties after hearing that ascariasis was rampant in our country.
The mugwort leaf mentioned above is a kind of medicinal material they brought. Under the research of medical staff in the Soviet Union and China, sweet Baota sugar which can cure diseases was born. Unfortunately, China rarely sees wormwood, so we need to import most of wormwood from the Soviet Union. This has also led to the high price of Baota sugar, which the poor can't afford at home.
But in the 1960s, knowing the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations, the Soviet Union withdrew all medical experts sent to China. At that time, people were worried that the Soviet Union banned the export of Artemisia argyi, so people could no longer make Baota sugar. So at that time, China had begun to plant mugwort in our land, and the result was very successful.
After the successful planting of Artemisia argyi, Baota sugar was transformed into a cheap snack. Because of the rapid increase in the cultivation of Artemisia selengensis, some companies also saw the profit of producing Baota sugar, so they put it into production. But unfortunately, there were too many enterprises producing Baota sugar at that time, which led to oversupply of Baota sugar and many enterprises lost money. Because of this, the heat of Baota sugar will gradually disappear, and those Artemisia capillaris planted in the ground will be ignored.
When people in other countries think of this vital medicinal material again, Artemisia capillaris has rotted in the ground, and its seeds can no longer be used, which is a pity. Artemisia scoparia is not native to China, and our seeds are all from the Soviet Union. Without seeds for planting, there is no way to produce Artemisia selengensis and Baota sugar. Baota sugar gradually disappeared from people's sight due to the lack of raw materials, which became a great tragedy in the pharmaceutical history of China.