The beneficial effects of Rhubarb in the diet

Leeds, Yorkshire, England, Wednesday. The findings of a three year study into the beneficial effects of rhubarb in the diet were published today by the Metropolitan University of Leeds. The study found that some athletes who included rhubarb in their diet, even in quite small quantities, had shown up to a staggering 22% increase in their performance on the track and in the field.

The study was commissioned when it was noticed that even mediocre sports men and women were turning in greatly increased performances after following a diet plan which included a daily intake of rhubarb.

Rhubarb ( from the Latin eubarbarum, rhabarbarum) is made from the fleshy leaf-stalks of a Chinese and Tibetan plant of the genus Rheum. It is produced in very large quantities in the area around Leeds in Northern England, known as the Rhubarb Triangle, and shipped to supermarkets and grocery stores around the country. It is also exported to the country's European neighbours.

Local people claim to have been aware of its properties for decades. One Leeds resident told us "This study is only telling us what we Northerners have known for years". "Some of our best athletes, footballers, and cricketers are from the North and have been brought up on rhubarb". Some Northern sports clubs have even gone so far as to try to devise a test to detect rhubarb in the bloodstream in a bid to make competition fairer, particularly at times when rhubarb is out of season and only available to those sportspeople who can afford to have it imported. At these times, it is bought and sold on the black market and changes hands for huge amounts of cash.

Its beneficial effects have been shown to be somewhat dissipated when partnered, as it often is, with custard, but enhanced by the inclusion of sugar, which is just as well as it makes the tart fruit more palatable and increases energy as a by-product.

Local producers are expecting acute shortages of rhubarb in the shops and supermarkets later this Summer and into Autumn following publication of the findings coupled with the fact that the long hot Summer has resulted in a poor crop this year.
PA