Health
Tomato Pills Sparked 1830s Medical Craze in America
In the 1830s, American physician Dr. John Cook Bennett claimed that tomatoes could treat digestive ailments such as indigestion and diarrhoea. Bennett urged people to consume tomatoes in various forms, including raw, cooked, or as a sauce now known as ketchup. His assertions attracted widespread attention and led entrepreneurs to market pills made from tomato extracts as a conventional medicine. Competing manufacturers emerged, notably Dr. Guy R. Phelps of Yale, who sold his own Compound Tomato Pills. The rivalry escalated into a public dispute, culminating in what was later called the Tomato Pill War by 1838. The episode illustrates how Bennett’s enthusiasm for the humble tomato turned into a commercial battle over its purported healing properties, as documented by Atlas Obscura and food historian Andrew F. Smith in his book *The Tomato in America*.