# Castor oil & folk remedies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castor-oil-folk-remedies/318100>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 22, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castor-oil-folk-remedies/318100 "2005-08-22T13:44:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castor-oil-folk-remedies/318100/1 "2005-08-22T13:44:51Z")

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I’ve been re-reading _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ recently, and came across the following sentence:

> [@](#):
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> In other times, after spending the whole day making candy animals, she [Úrsula] had more than enough time for the children, to see from the whites of their eyes that they needed a dose of castor oil.

It’s the last part of this that intrigues me: would this have been a valid home remedy? All I know about castor oil is that it tastes bad, but does it have medicinal properties that could help with jaundice or some other ailment that would show up in the whites of one’s eyes? Or was García Márquez recounting some folk remedy without any basis in fact, or even inventing it outright?

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castor-oil-folk-remedies/318100/2 "2005-08-22T13:50:22Z")

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> [@MikeS](#):
>
> I’ve been re-reading _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ recently, and came across the following sentence:It’s the last part of this that intrigues me: would this have been a valid home remedy? All I know about castor oil is that it tastes bad, but does it have medicinal properties that could help with jaundice or some other ailment that would show up in the whites of one’s eyes? Or was García Márquez recounting some folk remedy without any basis in fact, or even inventing it outright?

All I remember about castor oil from my childhood was that it was used as a laxative – the idea being that relieving constipation could resolve a whole host of problems.

Whether there’s any truth to the old saying “so full of sh\*t that your eyeballs are brown” I can’t say.

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/castor-oil-folk-remedies/318100/3 "2005-08-22T13:55:42Z")

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Castor oil is a laxative. No idea how it would help jaundice.

Thing is jaundice is a symptom of some other underlying health problem. Many health issues can present as jaundice and each issue needs its own response. To say that just one thing (i.e. castor oil) will fix it is not a good bet.

Some folk remedies have bene shown to be actually helpful but of course many more were so much hokum. Best to be talking to your doctor.