For 16 Years, People Legitimately Thought Ketchup Was Medicine

If you ever have a headache, bad cough, or pain in your neck just reach for your ketchup bottle.

Just kidding, that’s a terrible idea, but there was a time when people thought Ketchup had healing components, according to Fast Company.

When Dr. John Cook Bennett created a recipe for tomato ketchup in 1834, he advertised it as a medicine that cured you of diarrhea, jaundice, indigestion, and rheumatism. He even made the ketchup into pills, which made it seem even more legit.

We’ve all eaten ketchup, and know that’s clearly all nonsense, but until 1850, people were flocking to ketchup to cure their ills.

The reason this scam eventually ended was because imitators started making their own bootleg ketchup medicine, making even crazier claims, saying it’d cure scurvy and mended bones, and people eventually started calling bullshit.

Tomatoes do carry antioxidants and vitamin C, but don’t expect to chug a bottle of ketchup and feel like a million bucks after. Trust me.