Vitamin and tonics are in many cases a mixture of Vitamin B-complex or vitamins in solutions of sugar and alcohol. Tonics or health restoratives are prescribed for debilitating conditions usually for convalescents, chronic diseases, loss of appetite, weight loss, and fatigue.

Vitamin and tonic preparations are irrational because what is actually needed is an adequate mixed diet containing leafy vegetables. Vitamin deficiency should be treated with specific vitamins in dry tablet form.

Tonics are hazardous when substances like caffeine, strychnine, leptazol are combined with vitamins. Regular intake of Vitamin A and D will be excessive and hence hazardous.

Bangladesh has banned tonics, enzyme mixtures/preparations and restorative product because such products "flourish on consumer ignorance..., most are habit-forming and with the exception of pancreatin and lactase (which are allowed as single ingredient products) of no therapeutic value." (6). United Kingdom does not recognise tonics as drugs.

Most of the tonics are grossly advertised with many tall claims as health restoratives. However they often contain inadequate doses of vitamins, useless ingredients and lot of alcohol. A well known tonic, Waterbury's Yellow Label tonic, contains about 3 mg of Iron per teaspoon of which only one-tenth is absorbed by the body. The Indian Council of Medical Research recommends at least a daily intake of 10 mg for men and 20-30 mg for an average woman.

Some tonic preparations contain more vitamins than what is actually needed. High-potency multivitamin formulations are sheer waste of resources as they are almost wholly rejected by the body, particularly in the case of well-fed consumers. The daily requirement of the human body of Vitamin C is about 50 milligram, of Vitamin B1 one milligram and some others in minute quantities of few milligrams. Yet tonic preparations, apart from being extremely expensive, contain between 10 to 50 times the minimum requirements which are simply excreted by the body. Moreover, most vitamins are needed in small amounts to stimulate metabolism, they are not energy-enhancers.

The daily requirements of Vitamin C can be obtained from regular use of fruits or fresh vegetables and salad helpings. Vitamin A, supplied by green leafy vegetables, is stored in large amounts by the body for proper vision. Vitamin D is naturally synthesized by the skin from daily sunlight. Despite the availability of inexpensive, fresh fruits and vegetables, tonics are a craze among people. Over 15, 000 tonnes of health drinks are produced every year in India. Manufacturers spend large amount of money on advertisement. Television advertising is a very effective way of getting credulous consumers hooked on these expensive junk. And the current trend is to recommend tonics for healthy adults and growing children.

The production of the high-potency or Forte preparation of multivitamins is a sheer economic waste. It is a drain on the consumers and government dispensaries. It would benefit more number of patients if the preparation was made available in smaller but adequate quantities so that more tablets could be produced at cheaper price. High-potency preparation is also a drain on the country's foreign exchange as most of the raw materials have to be imported.

Cough Syrups and expectorants are mixtures of drugs which stimulate coughing (ammonium chloride, ipecac) as well as those which suppress coughing (codeine, noscapine) and antihistamines that dry the secretions (some common brand names are Benadryl Expectorant, Piriton Expectorant, Avil Expectorant).

The WHO List of Essential Drugs does not include cough syrups and lozenges. Bangladesh has banned them on the grounds they are "of little or no therapeutic value and amounts to great wastage of meager resources"(7).