The Daily Extra # 80

People once took tomato pills as medicine

“Back in the 1800s, a medical tomato craze occurred in the U.S., thanks in part to an Ohio physician, Dr. John Cook Bennett, who claimed tomatoes could ease or cure a multitude of ailments, including diarrhea, indigestion, cholera, jaundice and “violent bilious attacks.” Dr. Bennett partnered with drug manufacturer Archibald Miles to produce tomato pills called “Dr. Miles’ Compound Extract of Tomato.” Hundreds of thousands of people bought into it, purchasing the tomato extract pills but the trend died down around 1850, when Americans decided to simply eat the tomatoes instead.” – 50 Weird Facts That Most People Don’t Know