The drink did, initially, claim to contain lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. It was one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. In 1936 the federal government forced the manufacturer to remove a number of health claims, and because "lithium was not an actual ingredient", the name was changed to just "7 Up" in 1937.

The origin of the name 7 Up is