Ketchup was sold as medicine in the 1830s

In the 1830s, tomato ketchup was prescribed by American doctors as a medicine for conditions including diarrhoea, liver disease, and indigestion. Tomatoes were considered to have medicinal properties, and ketchup — then thicker and spicier than today's version — was marketed in pill form as well as liquid. Dr. John Cook Bennett was the primary physician-promoter of tomato medicine. The treatment fell out of fashion by the 1850s as tomatoes became a mainstream food rather than a medical product.