The article doesn't mention this, but some relevant backstory for the quasi-medical claims is that Horlicks originated in the US in the late 19th century, at th

The article doesn't mention this, but some relevant backstory for the quasi-medical claims is that Horlicks originated in the US in the late 19th century, at the height of the "patent medicine" craze. The same one that gave us Coca Cola, along with various other less remembered quack cures. The company was started in Chicago in the 1870s by two brothers who had immigrated from England. One of them moved back to the UK about 20 years later, where he began importing the product, and later opened a UK subsidiary (the 1906 date the company quotes in UK marketing is the opening date of the UK subsidiary's first factory). It subsequently lost market share in the US, disappearing entirely by the 1930s, so is now hardly remembered by any Americans still alive. But it found more enduring success in the UK, which also spread it to its colonies.