Too Much Tequila, No Burrito

Even the Aztecs drank their tequila, a fermented beverage made of agave, and produced a long time before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521.

Later, their drink turned into pulque.

Later on, tequila turned into the most famous product of Mexico, and now the huge thirst for the drink is killing off more than just our neurons: intensive cultivation of its main ingredient, Agave tequilana, is affecting the genetic diversity of other agave species. "Not only that, but the area available for traditional food crops is falling, and the intensive farming is leading to soil erosion," said Patricia Colunga of the natural resources unit at the Centre for Scientific Investigation in Yucatan, Mexico.

The team made of Colunga and Daniel Zizumbo interviewed farmers from areas south of Jalisco state, and across Tequila-Amatitan, regions of west-central Mexico where agave plants are cultivated intensively, collecting data about the types of the agave species grown there, but also plant samples. "South of Jalisco is the nucleus for the greatest diversity of traditional varieties of agaves in west-central Mexico. The diversity and the traditional products that it supplies are part of the cultural heritage of Mexico and should be conserved." said Colunga.

Other traditional agave varieties, from which pulque and other local beverages are made, can be cultivated with staples such as maize, beans and squash without using herbicides, but blue agave (Agave tequilana), from which tequila is made, is cultivated in monocultures that need the use of herbicides. A research published in March showed that the sap of the blue agave could offer a more effective way of delivering drugs to the colon than common drug-carriers, improving treatments for ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, Crohn's disease, and other colon conditions.

Blue agave polysaccharides (starch-like molecules) called fructans, polymers of the fructose (starches are polymers of the glucose), resist passing through the stomach, releasing wrapped drugs into the intestine.