# Eating Vick's VapoRub? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041 "2016-08-26T19:25:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/1 "2016-08-26T19:25:50Z")
For some reason my late paternal grandmother would have her son, my father, eat Vick’s VapoRub when he was sick as a child. This was back in the late '50s-early '60s. My dad also recalls another relative eating the stuff, too. I’ve heard of people rubbing it on the bottom of their kid’s feet to “cure” their upper respiratory issues, but EATING it? From what I’ve googled it says the stuff can be toxic (camphor poisoning) and that there is a warning against consuming it on the label. So why the hell would they eat it? Was it some sort of folk remedy back then? ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/2 "2016-08-26T19:42:36Z")
Ooooh, I at mentholatum by the spoonful when I was a kid! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/3 "2016-08-26T20:02:10Z")
This is talked about in the opening chapter of Toni Morrison’s _The Bluest Eye_. That’s all I know about it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/4 "2016-08-26T20:05:20Z")
I had to hold my mother-in-law off with both hands when my kids were sick. She was ready to give them spoonfuls. I have no idea why people do this, but they do. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/5 "2016-08-26T20:52:09Z")
The worst thing my mother ever wanted to do with that stuff was rub it on my upper chest. That’s bad enough. (The stuff smells terrible and it’s going to stain the sheets.) But eating it is completely weird. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/6 "2016-08-26T20:53:09Z")
Were they illiterate? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/7 "2016-08-26T21:21:00Z")
I hear that Head and Shoulders shampoo pairs well with VV. Dinner and dessert. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/8 "2016-08-26T23:31:49Z")
This has to be one of the most bizarre remedies I’ve ever read about. It’s like someone suggesting a healthy cup of Liquid Drano. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/9 "2016-08-26T23:49:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The worst thing my mother ever wanted to do with that stuff was rub it on my upper chest. That’s bad enough. (The stuff smells terrible and it’s going to stain the sheets.) But eating it is completely weird. When my kids were little my wife would put it on her own chest and sleep next to them. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/10 "2016-08-26T23:54:27Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > This has to be one of the most bizarre remedies I’ve ever read about. It’s like someone suggesting a healthy cup of Liquid Drano. No, it’s probably harmless. Petroleum jelly is inert and I doubt there’s enough camphor to cause an issue unless you were eating tons of it. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/11 "2016-08-26T23:55:26Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Were they illiterate? I found an ancient bottle of Vick’s in my great-aunt’s house once. On the label it suggested eating a pea-sized amount as a cure for I don’t remember exactly what. But it was right there, printed on the jar. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/12 "2016-08-26T23:58:14Z")
Evidently, [someone still eats it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kHAxceLn0Y). Clip from TLC’s “My Strange Addiction”. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/13 "2016-08-27T01:46:34Z")
My paternal grandfather swallowed a fingerfull of the stuff every night at bedtime. I’m not sure what it was supposed to do for him, but he did live a long life so it couldn’t have been too bad. Bob ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/14 "2016-08-27T01:55:09Z")
Not a scientist, but I was researching peppermint oil capsules last night and also read that menthol and camphor can be toxic, esp, to kids. I would never have thought to eat it and it sounds disgusting. It’s called vapo-rub, not vapo-jam, for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/15 "2016-08-27T02:28:08Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Evidently, [someone still eats it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kHAxceLn0Y). Clip from TLC’s “My Strange Addiction”. Oh my god that show is so fucking twisted. Either the entire thing is fake, or there are some seriously fucked up people in the world. I tend to believe the latter. And it’s certainly kind of fucked up that they’re taping these people and essentially putting on a freak show, but that’s a whole other conversation. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/16 "2016-08-27T02:50:46Z")
I realize that, since the revelations about his predatory actions, he’s not quoted much, but I still love Bill Cosby’s routine about having a cold as a kid. His Mom: Eat your sandwich? Bill: What is it? Mom: Peanut butter and Vicks This was just the height of his mother’s reported Vicks obsession – he said he was slathered in vicks, then slipped into as vicks-infused bed. The thing is, he was joking. I saw it as simply exaggeration of the same sort of behavior that my own mom had – I got the heavy Vicks treatment, complete with being slathered with it, inhaling it over a steaming pot of water infused with Vicks, and sticking an inhaler up my nose. But I never imagined that anyone _actually_ ate the Vicks. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/17 "2016-08-27T02:58:37Z")
Yeah-- my mother was obsessed with rubbing it on my chest-- and it did open up congested noses, albeit, a little like doing it with a sledge hammer-- but I seriously doubt my mother ever would have thought of eating it. Even for, say, constipation. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/18 "2016-08-27T05:01:52Z")
I can’t recall the name or sport, but there was a famous athlete who ate Vicks Vaporub before each game. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/19 "2016-08-27T11:41:07Z")
My mom always taught us to rub in under our nose and to eat just a little bit. She got it from her mom as well. So as a result, I’ve ingested my share of Vicks VapoRub in my life. It’s not deadly, nor does it taste bad…but not sure it works either. I haven’t done it for many years now, though. I still put it under my nose sometimes, however, because I like the smell of it and I find it can help me sleep at times. Yeah, our family was a Vicks family. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/20 "2016-08-27T11:42:19Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I can’t recall the name or sport, but there was a famous athlete who ate Vicks Vaporub before each game. Michael Vick? 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041.md?page=2)