The Deadliest Energy Drink to Ever Exist
One doctor discovered that drinking small doses of radium three times a day would make people feel super-human.
The story of the deadliest energy drink in the world begins with a man by the name of Ebenezer Byers, who was a famous American Socialite in the 1920s. He was the son of industrialist Alexander Byers, so his life was not short of privilege and money. One day in 1927, while returning from a football game at Yale, he fell out of an upper bunk on his train and hurt his arm.
Despite his access to top doctors, he couldn’t seem to shake the persistent pain that resulted from the injury. That is until he tried a new all-the-rage energy drink at the time.
Treating his injury
At the recommendation of a doctor in Pittsburgh, Ebenezer started drinking something called Radithor. This was a patented energy drink like medicine made up of distilled water and just the littlest bit of an element called radium.
As Byers began to take the drink, he felt energized, invigorated, and full of energy. His pain faded, and he couldn’t stop raving of the miracle cure that was Radithor.
This miracle drink was invented by William Bailey, a Harvard dropout who claimed to be a doctor of medicine. He promoted Radithor as a metabolic stimulant and an aphrodisiac. He went on to claim that the radioactive elements inside stimulated human organs and could prevent adrenal fatigue, cure headaches, diabetes, anemia, constipation, asthma, and more. Just imagine if that’s what monster energy drinks had written on the can…
Radithor came in half-ounce bottles that contained one microcurie of radium 228 and radium 226 each.
For just $30 at the time, you could get your hands on a bottle.
Byers believed in this miracle cure so much that he took three bottles a day, every day until he was about 50.
Byer’s took a turn for the worse
It was at this age that he started quickly losing weight, getting severe headaches, and his teeth started falling out. Not what you want to happen when you are just looking for some energy.
An X-ray specialist based in Manhattan who had treated people with radium poisoning before immediately recognized Byer’s ailment. The Federal Trade Commission began investigating Radithor.
Although Byers was relatively young at this time, he could barely speak and was covered in bandages. Prior to his diagnosis, his entire lower jaw had been removed, and he only had two teeth left. All of his tissue was starting to disintegrate, and he had holes in his skull.
SEE ALSO: 21 HILARIOUS HOME DESIGN FAILS SO BAD THEY SHOULDN’T EXIST
An investigation into his death
Six months after the investigation started, Byers died. An autopsy revealed that his kidneys had failed, and in his bones, there were 36 micrograms of radium.
Just a reminder that 10 micrograms is a fatal dose to humans.
Byers’s death, being a somewhat famous person at the time, garnered a lot of publicity. The media made him the poster child of the dangers of radium poisoning. Even with all of this, many across the U.S. and the world continued to believe in the healing powers of radium.
RELATED: THE RADIUM GIRLS – WORKERS WHO PAINTED WITH RADIUM AND SUFFERED FROM EXPOSURE
Byer’s doctor actually claimed to have drunk more Radithor than Ebenezer and claimed it had nothing to do with his death. For the most part, though, this fell on deaf ears.
By December of that year, Radithor was banned in the U.S., but no one was ever tried for the death of Byers.
The perplexing story of Radithor and its popularity makes it what is likely the deadliest energy drink in all of human history. To think, less than 100 years ago, Doctors thought that ingesting radioactive isotopes could cure you of headaches and other diseases.
SHOW COMMENT ()
