{
  "id": 18900094,
  "title": "When tomato ketchup was sold as medicine in 1830s America",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/08/when-tomato-ketchup-was-sold-as-medicine-in-1830s-america",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-08T08:25:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/in-the-1830s-americans-bought-tomato-ketchup-as-medicine-after-a-physician-claimed-tomatoes-could-treat-indigestion-and-diarrhoea-pills-made-from-tomato-extract-were-sold-across-the-country-before-the-craze-collapsed-/articleshow/135566524.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In the 1830s, Dr John Cook Bennett suggested that tomatoes had medicinal properties for treating digestive issues. This led to the creation of tomato extract pills sold as medicine by various entrepreneurs. The competition between manufacturers Archibald Miles and Dr Guy R. Phelps became known as the Tomato Pill War. Their public dispute was widely reported in newspapers and attracted significant…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}