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FoodSurprise 5/5Difficulty 2/5Reviewed on September 17, 2026

Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as a medicine for diarrhea.

Why it is true

In 1834, a physician named John Cook Bennett declared that tomatoes could cure diarrhea, indigestion, and jaundice. He turned the ketchup recipe into pills and sold it as medicine, a practice that lasted until the 1850s before it became a simple condiment.

Source: Smithsonian

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