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

272 Pages·1996·12.207 MB·English

by  Rima D. Apple

Vitamins in American Culture
RIMA D. APPLE
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/vitamaniavitaminOOOOappl
MORAINE LRC/LIBRARY
-PALOS HILLS. ILl\h ...
MORAINE VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
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QP 771 ,A67 1996
Apple, Rima D. 1944-
Vitamania
ttUWJRAWN
DEMCO

Vitamania
HEALTH AND MEDICINE
IN AMERICAN SOCIETY
series editors
Judith Walzer Leavitt
Morris Vogel
Vitamania
Vitamins in
American Culture
RIMA D. APPLE
pi RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
^1 New Brunswick, New Jersey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Apple, Rima D. (Rinra 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 nutrition—Social aspects—United States.
I. Title. II. Series.
QP771.A67 1996
615'.328—dc20 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
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
INTRODUCTION
“Perhaps Your Diet Is Too Modem”
The Discovery of Avitaminosis 1
CHAPTER 1
“They Need It Now”
Popular Science and Advertising in the Interwar Period
CHAPTER 2
“To Protect the Interest of the Public”
Vitamins, Marketing, and Research 33
CHAPTER 3
“Superior Knowledge”
Pharmacists, Grocers, Physicians, and Linus Pauling
CHAPTER 4
Miles One-A-Day
The History of a Vitamin Dynasty 85
CHAPTER 5
Acnotabs
Scientific Evidence in the Marketplace 109
VI CONTENTS
CHAPTER 6
“Millions of Consumers Are Being Misled”
The Food and Drug Administration and Consumer Protection 125
CHAPTER 7
“Preserve Our Health Freedom”
Science in Consumer Politics 144
CHAPTER 8
“Intensity” Makes the Difference
Vitamins in the Political Process 158
CONCLUSION
Vitamania?
Vitamins in Late Twentieth-Century United States 179
Notes 199
Index 233