9 Common Foods That Were Created to Be Medicine

When walking through the aisles of the nearest market, we would not imagine that some of our favorite foods have an interesting history. Apparently, some of them had completely different uses when they first hit the shelves.

For example, Coca-Cola was created as a cocaine-based alcoholic beverage used for headaches; and 7-Up, a drink that was once popular here in Brazil, was developed to improve people’s mood.

today, not awesome.clubwe present a list of 9 foods that were used to fight some diseases in the past.

“As a daily food, this product has no equal”

Super famous in the US, Graham crackers were invented in 1829 by Reverend Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian pastor. These cookies were originally made for your diet, since Sylvester was an advocate of vegetarianism and a sober lifestyle. It was supposed that his diet would keep people from living a life of lust and desire and at the same time maintain a strong sense of health. Although the diet gained a large following, all enthusiasm waned after Graham’s death in 1851.

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, supported Pastor Graham’s (above mentioned) diet for a healthy lifestyle and created corn flakes by accident. They accidentally left pieces of wheat in the kitchen and went on a business trip. When they returned, they found that the dried pits were edible, especially if pressed through a rolling pin. By doing the same with corn, the Kelloggs created a mini-food revolution. The cornflakes were later sold under the brand name Kellogg’s Corn Flakes as part of Graham’s diet, claiming that would reduce dyspepsia and “morally destructive” behaviors.

American physician James Salisbury served as a medic during the American Civil War and he was convinced that the diarrhea suffered by soldiers could be controlled with a diet based on coffee and lean ground beef. In 1888, he introduced the beef steak named after him, made from ground beef with fried or boiled onions and seasonings and topped with a brown sauce. He suggested that it was necessary to eat this food three times a day to fight some diseases.

The Coca-Cola we know today, had to go through many changes, until it reached the current drink. First there was a drink called “French Pemberton Wine Coke,” a strong wine that contained caffeine and cocaine-rich kola nuts. Your creator, John Pemberton🇧🇷 said it was possible to cure everything with it, from nervous problems to exhaustion and impotence. This drink was later made illegal by local alcohol prohibition laws (whereas cocaine consumption was legal, surprisingly); so Pemberton turned to sugar syrup to develop a non-alcoholic version and called it Coca-Cola. The drink gained popularity only after Pemberton’s death in 1888, when it was sold as “tonic and against headache”.

In 1929, the drink 7-UP was originally called “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda” (Bib brand lemon-lime soda with lithium) and was used as a mood stabilizer, as it contained lithium citrate, the same compound that was used to treat psychiatric illnesses. The drink was sold to cure hangovers and had lithium as a main ingredient until 1950. In 2006, the product was reformulated so that it could be marketed as “100% natural”.

Another super popular soft drink in the USA, Dr Pepper was created by pharmacist Charles Alderton, at Morrison Old Corner pharmacy, in Waco, Texas. To test his new drink, he first offered it to shop owner Wade Morrison, who found it delicious. Soon, the new drink was available as a “brain tonic”with the name of “Waco”🇧🇷 A little later, the name changed to Dr Pepper.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Goo-Goo chocolates were marketed as “a nutritious lunch for a penny”🇧🇷 At that time, the main problem was caloric malnutrition, especially among the working class. Therefore, high-calorie sweets with marshmallow nougat, caramel and peanuts roasted with milk were identified as valuable and economical sources of dietary energy.

Until the end of the 19th century, many physicians believed that most illnesses were related to digestive problems, therefore, they recommended the daily intake of biscuits and fruit. Charles Roser invented a machine in 1891 that inserted fig paste into thick cake batter. The first Fig Newtons were baked in the F. A. Kennedy steam bakery in 1891.

Another “digestion” aid was first developed in 1839 by two Scottish physicians. As these cookies contained a large amount of baking soda, the inventors claimed that eating them after a big meal was beneficial to health. McVitie, the famous biscuit brand in Scotland, has turned the manufacture of digestive biscuits into mass production and, although they are still called “digestives”, the company now puts a warning on the package: “The ingredients of the biscuits do not contain any substance It helps with digestion.”

Were you surprised by any of the origins described above? Have you ever consumed any of these best-known products abroad? Share your opinion in the comments section!