Today we’re sharing an episode of one of my favorite podcasts - Cautionary Tales, by Tim Harford. Tim is just super good at explaining things: economics, history, and in this episode - medicine.
This show concerns Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound - one of the most popular patent medicines of the late 19th century. Mrs. Pinkham’s compound was sold as a “women’s tonic,” ideal for menopause or menstrual pain. The package promised big: “It cures bloating, headaches, nervous prostration, general debility, sleeplessness, depression, and indigestion.”
But did it, really? No, it did not. Lydia Pinkham’s compound was the epitome of a cure-all that cured nothing, a secret concoction of herbs and roots and other ambiguous ingredients that promised tremendous benefits without any evidence whatsoever.
Eventually, it was outrage over patent medicines like Mrs. Pinkham’s that turned into the creation of the FDA, and the evidence-based medicine we have today.
I’ll let Tim tell the whole story, but it’s a lovely episode.
We’ll be back next week with a new episode of Drug Story!
