History’s Worst Biohack: How Radium Water Fooled the World
The tragic story of Eben Byers, “Perpetual Sunshine,” and why we still fall for dangerous health scams.
☢️ In the 1920s, the wealthy didn’t sip green juice. They drank radium water.
And no one drank more than Eben Byers, a Yale-educated steel magnate, champion golfer, and American socialite.
The rise of Radithor
After a minor arm injury, Byers was introduced to a tonic called Radithor.
It was sold as “Perpetual Sunshine”, a liquid vitality booster that promised:
⚡ More energy
😴 Deeper sleep
🧠 Sharper focus
🌹 Even improved libido
Radithor was advertised in medical journals, promoted by doctors, and sold as a cutting-edge, science-backed breakthrough.
Byers loved it. Over a few years, he downed more than 1,400 bottles.
Friends claimed he looked younger. He bragged about his stamina. To high society, he became living proof that radium was a miracle.
The hidden curse
☠️ What Byers didn’t know: radium behaves like calcium in the body.
It embeds itself deep into bone and bathes nearby tissue in radiation, day after day.
At first, the signs were subtle: toothaches, fatigue.
Then it escalated:
His teeth fell out one by one
His gums turned into ulcerated wounds
His jawbone began disintegrating from the inside
Holes opened in his skull
By the end, surgeons described his face as “a mass of necrosis.”
In 1932, Eben Byers died at just 51 years old. His remains were so radioactive that gravediggers had to entomb him in a lead-lined coffin.
☢️ Decades later, scientists measured his skeleton: it was still “hot”, nearly 100 times more radioactive than a normal body.
Why this matters today
📰 Byers wasn’t stupid. He was wealthy, educated, and surrounded by experts.
He trusted labels. He trusted “science.” He trusted what everyone else was doing.
But marketing beat the truth.
Radithor had:
✅ Medical endorsements
✅ Clever branding (Perpetual Sunshine)
✅ Rave testimonials
It was the perfect storm of hype, dressed up as science.
And here’s the scary part: the playbook hasn’t changed.
Supplement scams 2.0
💊 Fast forward to now:
Half of U.S. adults take supplements
Most are under-dosed or ineffective
Some are contaminated with heavy metals or hidden drugs
Many are marketed with animal studies or weak evidence
That doesn’t mean all supplements are bad. Some have strong research:
✅ Vitamin D (if deficient)
✅ Magnesium for sleep and stress
✅ Omega-3s for specific health outcomes
✅ Creatine for performance and brain support
✅ Iron if you’re low
But the rest? Often hype, not help.
🔎 Read our post about recent supplements scams
How to protect yourself before buying
Here’s your checklist:
🧪 Check NIH ODS or NCCIH for real human evidence
✅ Look for USP Verified or NSF Certified for Sport seals (purity check, not effectiveness)
🚫 Avoid “proprietary blends” that hide amounts
⚠️ Be suspicious of miracle claims that “do everything at once”
💬 If you take meds, check for interactions first
The one-line rule to remember
🧬 If it’s not backed by data, it doesn’t belong in your body.
That’s why we created Better Than Yesterday, to cut through hype and give you biohacks you can actually trust.
Eben Byers’ story is a century old, but the lesson is timeless.
Sources & Further Reading
