The popular soda 7-UP used to contain lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug used today to treat people with bipolar disorder. Originally called "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda," the soft drink was marketed in the late-19th and early-20th centuries as a health drink due to containing lithium. 7-UP was not the only soft drink to have its original formula contain a drug. Coca-Cola used to include coca leaves - thus containing small amounts of cocaine - and marketed to cure nausea, headaches, and morphine addiction. By 1950, 31 years after 7-UP was created, lithium had to be taken out of the formula when research showed that the drug had potentially dangerous side effects.
More about soft drinks:
- Around the world popular soft drinks are made according to the country's taste. For instance, Coca-Cola introduced a green tea flavored beverage in Japan.
- Since the 1930s, the myth that Dr. Pepper contains prune juice has circulated, largely by the company in order to keep the soft drink formula a secret.
- According to research done by the Northern Kentucky University, using diet soft drinks in cocktails versus regular soft drinks can get a person 18% drunker.
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Discussion Comments
You need to check your math. You originally say “Lemon-Lime Soda," the soft drink was marketed in the late-19th and early-20th“. Later you state “By 1950, 31 years after 7-UP was created”. Which correctly places the creation of 7-Up in 1929, firmly in the 20th century and not at all in the 19th century.
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