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Tapeworm diet (early 1900s)
During the early 1900s, it was popular among women to go on diets using tapeworm pills. Each pill contained one tapeworm egg, which later hatched, grew inside their intestines, and ingested most of the food that this person ate. This practice helped women lose weight while not cutting down on their calories. The dangers of this diet were intestinal blockages and the formation of cysts in their liver, eyes, brain, and spinal cord.
