Vitamania: Vitamins in American Culture (Health and Medicine in American Society)

506 Pages·1996·2.56 MB·English

by  Rima

Vitamania : Vitamins in American Culture
title:
Health and Medicine in American Society
author: Apple, Rima D.
publisher: Rutgers University Press
isbn10 | asin: 0813522781
print isbn13: 9780813522784
ebook isbn13: 9780585118338
language: English
Vitamins in human nutrition--Social
subject
aspects--United States.
publication date: 1996
lcc: QP771.A67 1996eb
ddc: 615/.328
Vitamins in human nutrition--Social
subject:
aspects--United States.
Page i
Vitamania
Page ii
HEALTH AND MEDICINE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY
series editors
Judith Walzer Leavitt
Morris Vogel
Page iii
Vitamania
Vitamins in American Culture
Rima D. Apple
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Page iv
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Apple, Rima D. (Rima Dombrow), 1944-
Vitamania : vitamins in American culture / by Rima D. Apple.
p. cm. (Health and medicine in American society)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8135-2277-3 (cloth : alk. paper). ISBN 0-8135-2278-1
(paper : alk. paper)
1. Vitamins in human nutritionSocial aspectsUnited States.
I. Title. II. Series.
QP771.A67 1996 615´.328dc20 95-43281
CIP
British Cataloging-in-Publication information available
Copyright © 1996 by Rima D. Apple
All rights reserved
Published by Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Manufactured in the United States of America
Page v
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction "Perhaps Your Diet Is Too Modern" The 1
Discovery of Avitamiviosis
Chapter 1 13
"They Need It Now" Popular Science and Advertising in
the Interwar Period
Chapter 2 33
"To Protect the Interest of the Public" Vitamins,
Marketing, and Research
Chapter 3 54
"Superior Knowledge" Pharmacists, Grocers, Physicians,
and Linus Pauling
Chapter 4 85
Miles One-A-Day The History of a Vitamin Dynasty
Chapter 5 109
Acnotabs Scientific Evidence in the Marketplace
Page vi
Chapter 6 125
"Millions of Consumers Are Being Misled" The Food and
Drug Administration and Consumer Protection
Chapter 7 144
"Preserve Our Health Freedom" Science in Consumer
Politics
Chapter 8 158
"Intensity" Makes the Difference Vitamins in the Political
Process
Conclusion 179
Vitamania? Vitamins in Late Twentieth-Century United
States
Notes 199
Index 233
Page vii
Illustrations
Figure 1-1 15
Kitchen Craft Waterless Cooker advertisement
Figure 1-2 16
Red Heart Dog Biscuit advertisement
Figure 1-3 21
Squibb's Cod-Liver Oil advertisement
Figure 1-4 23
Squibb's Cod-Liver Oil advertisement
Figure 1-5 24
Oscodal advertisement
Figure 1-6 28
Squibb Adex Tablets-10 D advertisement
Figure 2-1 39
Bottled Sunshine advertisement
Figure 2-2 43
Hygeia advertisement
Figure 2-3 45
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation advertisement
Figure 3-1 56
"Vitamin Capsules in Strange Surroundings"
Figure 3-2 60
"Keep 'em coming!"
Figure 3-3 64
Whelan drugstore
Figure 3-4 66
"Vitamize" window display, Newark, N.J.
Figure 3-5 71
"You have the upper hand!"
Figure 3-6 72
"You're the expert"
Figure 3-7 76
"Stop that cold!" window display
Figure 4-1 94
Miles One-A-Day advertisement
Figure 4-2 96
"Year 'Round: One-A-Day Vitamins for Your Whole
Family"
Figure 8-1 175
"What do Dietary Supplements and Dinosaurs Have in
Common?"
Page ix
Acknowledgments
Many people have supported and encouraged this project. It is my
great pleasure to publicly thank them for their faith and assistance
over the years.
I will begin in a sense where the book began, with the sources.
Suzanne White Junod, FDA historian, first made me aware of the
wealth of material available in the Food and Drug Administration
Archives. She instructed me in the intricacies of the archive's structure
and provided a most comfortable work environment. Through the
years she and her fellow FDA historian John Swann have been of
immeasurable assistance. Celeste Aaron made me welcome at the
Miles Laboratories Corporate Archives; I value her knowledge and
her friendship. Betsy Hamilton made the Consumers Union Archives
and her home available to me during my visit to Yonkers; I am
grateful for both. James Liebig aided my research in the University of
Wisconsin Archives. Else Arnold and John R. Pike helped me locate
records in the files of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Howard Shuman graciously agreed to be interviewed about his work
in the office of Senator William Proxmire; his thoughts and analysis
were appreciated. Discussions with Professor Aaron Ihde aided my
understanding of Harry Steenbock.
David Sandmire was the most conscientious and capable research
assistant. He spent six months finding matrial scattered