The Sanitized Tapeworm Diet! Urban Legend or Fact?

It is not an urban legend that people, especially women used to ingest tapeworm cysts (a baby tapeworm) to lose weight. The tapeworm eats the food that you eat but also gets the vitamins and nutrients that you need to live a healthy life. They also can grow to the length of the adult intestine and multiply profusely. Ascites create a large pool of fluid in your stomach as an immune response to something in your stomach that is not supposed to be there. For example if you have a large, creepy, disgusting, tapeworm in your stomach you will also have a disgusting pop belly. This is probably not what you were striving for when you were trying to lose weight.

There was actually an advertisement for the tapeworm diet, in the late 1800s which suggested that you swallow a sanitized tapeworm as opposed to what, a dirty unwashed tapeworm? The ad shows a slim well-dressed woman who has reached her desired weight level.

In Japan some believe that their society has become too clean. They used to host all kinds of worms, and now because they are so antiseptic, they have all kinds of ailments. Skin allergies, asthma and other unwanted illnesses. They attribute this to the loss of worms in their bodies. Round worms, hookworms, etc they believe are actually good for their health.

There was a recent episode on Dr. House where a young girl had a fatal illness, which they couldn't cure. Dr. House finally came to the conclusion that she had a nasty lack of B vitamins and Schizophrenia, which he attributed to a tapeworm. They preformed surgery on her and "Walah!" He pulled a disgusting, putrid, elastic looking tapeworm out of her gut. If I would have ever been insane and desperate enough to ingest a tapeworm, or tapeworm segment, sanitized or otherwise, after seeing the thing pulled out of that young girl's stomach, I would never consider having a tapeworm in me. Not to mention I wouldn't want to be a human incubator for tapeworms. YUK!

Let's say that one would choose to ingest said tapeworm, sanitized and they would reach their desired weight, then what? You have to kill the thing, and it's many off spring. You have of course been eating like a starving water buffalo up to this point because said tapeworm has been eating your vitamins and nutrients. You are hungry all the time to satisfy this monstrous craving, not to mention with the fluidy pot belly, your stomach must be all stretched out and you look like an Ethiopian but you weigh, say 89 pounds. Nobody is going to want to kiss you or have sex with you if they know about the hideous thing you are hiding in your body and now you have to start all over again or be a human blimp. I guess you could get gastric by-pass surgery. I would definitely choose that over swallowing a tapeworm.

You know I think even though I am a little chunky, I will gladly stay this way. I could always try eating a little less, a little more healthy and maybe even exercise a little. Hum what a novel concept?