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Tapeworm Diet -- No Ill Effects !

"Not for the squeamish, in the early 1900s the tapeworm diet started to be advertised.

 

"Dieters would swallow beef tapeworm cysts, usually in the form of a pill. The theory was that the tapeworms would reach maturity in the intestines and absorb food. This could cause weight loss, along with diarrhea and vomiting."

 

-- Louise Foxcroft, "Calories and Corsets: A History of Dieting

Over 2,000 Years," 2011

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Snopes. Com:

"Is this a real advertisement?

Uncertain.

 

"Whether such a method of weight loss was actually ever a common practice remains a subject of debate. Just because an ad for a diet pill proclaimed the product contained tapeworm eggs doesn’t mean it really did before government regulation of food and drug products."

 

 

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Uploaded on February 5, 2021
Taken circa 1910