Diet Culture Has Always Been Toxic — And Here Are 11 Deadly Examples From History That Prove It

Diet culture has (sadly) existed for as long as humans have had beauty standards. These standards have caused many people to try fad diets — many of which are harmful, if not outright deadly. Dieting can cause a whole host of medical complications if done using incorrect and dangerous means...

However, this is a risk that people, both nowadays and throughout history, have undertaken to conform to society's often narrow view of "attractiveness." From parasitic worms and arsenic to explosive powder and medically induced comas, here are 11 of the most lethal diet fads throughout history:

Note: The "diets" mentioned in this article are EXTREMELY dangerous and oftentimes deadly. Please do NOT try any of these.

1. Arsenic "diet" pills:

Diet pills skyrocketed in popularity in the 19th century. However, they often had dangerous, if not deadly, ingredients — one of the most prominent being arsenic. 

Arsenic is a very lethal poison — known for causing cancer, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, skin lesions, and many other health issues — but in low doses, it acts as a stimulant. Historian and author of Calories and Corsets: A History of Dieting Over 2,000 Years, Louise Foxcroft, told the BBC, "It was advertised as speeding up the metabolism, much like amphetamines do."

Those who were using the pills would often take more than the recommended dosage, unwittingly leading to an increased risk of arsenic poisoning due to the fact that arsenic was oftentimes not listed as an ingredient. Foxcroft concluded, "Such poisons were loosely controlled then and easily obtained for all sorts of household and medicinal purposes. Charlatans set themselves up as experts with diets to promote and products to sell. Plenty of people bought into these 'miracle cures.'"

2. Lord Byron's vinegar diet:

Renowned poet Lord Byron was one of the celebrities to popularize diet culture by famously — and dangerously — reducing his food intake.

His obsession with dieting began during his time at Cambridge in the early 1800s. Byron drank vinegar daily and ate vinegar-soaked potatoes to induce diarrhea and vomiting. To further suppress his appetite, the Romantic poet would smoke cigars. By 1822, he admitted that his restrictive dieting was "the cause of more than half our maladies."

However, his strict regimen didn't only apply to himself; Byron once suggested that "a woman should never be seen eating or drinking unless it be lobster salad and champagne, the only truly feminine and becoming viands."

Of course, Byron's status as a near-mythical figure to those in the 19th century caused many to begin dieting by using the same methods as their hero. Dr. George Beard attacked the Romantic movement and its effects on the younger generations' diets: "Our young ladies live all their growing girlhood in semi-starvation." He believed many women feared "incurring the horror of disciples of Lord Byron."

3. Rubber underwear:

In the 19th century, Charles Goodyear discovered how to improve rubber through vulcanization. With the burgeoning Industrial Revolution, rubber usage rapidly increased. This led to rubber being used as a weight-loss method in the form of rubber underwear.

A modern shapewear precursor, people believed that rubber underwear would not only hold them in but also induce sweating, which in turn would cause weight loss. However, the underwear would often cut into or moisten the wearer's skin, leading to infections. The fad would have likely continued if not for World War I, as rubber was then needed for the war effort.

4. The tapeworm diet:

Beginning in the early 20th century, the tapeworm diet was a fad that involved swallowing beef tapeworm cysts or pills containing a tapeworm's head to lose weight in an effort to maintain Victorian standards of physical beauty.

The end goal of this method was for the tapeworms to mature in the intestines, therefore absorbing the host's food (and nutrients) and causing weight loss. Then, when the goal weight was achieved, the dieter would begin a course of anti-parasitics in an attempt to rid themselves of the parasite. Sometimes, however, the tapeworm would grow to be several feet long, which would lead to other serious complications, especially when the parasite would travel to other body areas, such as the brain, eyes, appendix, or pancreas.

5. Dinitrophenol:

By the early 20th century, attitudes toward weight had changed. Carrying a few extra pounds was no longer a symbol of high status but rather viewed as a vice or lack of morality. In his 1905 textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, Canadian physician William Osler wrote, "Overeating...a vice which is more prevalent than and only a little behind overdrinking in its disastrous effects."

In comes Dinitrophenol (aka DNP), which was a crucial ingredient for artillery shells during World War I. It was noticed that those working in French munitions factories during the war were losing weight very quickly. As Roger G. Perkins noted in a 1919 Public Health report, “Workers claim that they have grown thin to a notable extent after several months of work with DNP.”

After the war, Stanford physicians Windsor Cutting and Maurice Tainter became interested in the effects of DNP on metabolism. The duo believed they could market the explosive chemical as a diet pill. Even though a few individuals died from using DNP as a weight loss supplement, it was still widely marketed as a diet drug and packaged under names such as Nitromet, Dinitriso, and Slim (which, according to a TIME magazine report, blinded or caused cataracts in over 100 users in 1936.)

The medical community was firmly against the usage of DNP as a weight loss supplement. In a study conducted from 1933 to 1937, up to 23 percent of DNP users developed skin lesions.

Other complications included ear problems, plummeting white blood cell counts, numbness in the feet and legs, jaundice, as well as many other health issues. Between 1934 and 1936, nine people died from the chemical, including three from overdosing, all with near-instantaneous rigor mortis.

By 1938, the newly passed Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allowed for DNP to be officially banned. However, the chemical only went underground and is still being sold illegally. It has been responsible for dozens of deaths within the past decade.

6. "Fletcherism":

In the early 1900s, Horace Fletcher, an influential health faddist, became known as the "Great Masticator." After being turned down at age 40 for a life insurance policy due to his weight, Fletcher devoted himself to dieting. He became convinced that chewing one's food until it became liquid and then spitting out the "sediment" would prevent weight gain and conditions such as diabetes. It was said that Fletcher once chewed a shallot approximately 722 times. 

His method, known as "Fletcherism," became widely popular with many notable figures of the day, including John Rockefeller, the novelist Upton Sinclair (who even coined a phrase for Fletcher — "Nature will castigate those who don’t masticate."), and U.S. President Herbert Hoover, among many others. Historian Louise Foxcroft revealed, "It got to a point where people were timed at dinner parties to make sure they were chewing enough."

Fletcher was also extremely proud of the bowel movements his diet produced; Foxcroft noted, "The diet also meant only defecating once every two weeks, and it was nearly odourless, described by Fletcher as smelling like 'warm biscuits.' Fletcher carried a sample of his own faeces around with him to illustrate this wonder."

7. The "Lucky Strike" diet:

It's no surprise that smoking has long been touted as a weight loss method since nicotine is a well-known appetite suppressant. In 1928, Lucky Strike cigarettes began targeting a new, empowered, "flapper" female audience, so the company's new campaign stated, “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.” (Because what do "empowered" women love more than having diets shoved down our throats?) Other advertisements of the time promoted, “When tempted to overindulge, reach for a Lucky instead.”

The confection industry was enraged by this blatant attack and began a counter campaign, pointing out the health issues caused by tobacco usage. The Federal Trade Commission eventually stepped in and prevented Lucky Strike from marketing its cigarettes as a diet aid. However, the damage was already done, as the brand increased its market shares by over 200%.

8. Grapefruit Diet:

The grapefruit diet rose to prominence in the 1920s and '30s, becoming known as the "Hollywood diet." The 18-day diet involved eating an entire grapefruit alongside every meal. It was one of the first popular low-carb diets. One could also eat eggs, meat, and other high-protein and high-fat foods.

The diet was notoriously restrictive, claiming that dieters could lose 10 pounds in only 12 days by consuming only 600-700 calories daily. Although it was only intended to last 18 days, many dieters would lengthen the amount of time they continued the weight loss plan. Even in 1935, health educator Carl Marmberg expressed concerns in his book Diet and Die, stating that continuing the diet for an extended period of time was “inviting certain catastrophe.”

9. The boiled egg and white wine diet:

Helen Gurley Brown first proposed the boiled egg diet in her 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl. The crash diet promised readers they would lose around 5.5 pounds in 3 days. The plan included drinking an entire bottle of white wine daily, 3 cups of black coffee, and eating 3 boiled eggs and a 5-ounce steak. However, this diet is extremely unstable, as only subsisting on alcohol and coffee will lead to dehydration, and the eggs and steak consumed are nowhere near the amount of calories or nutrients one needs daily.

The weight loss method was then featured in a 1977 issue of Vogue and went viral again in recent years after resurfacing on social media.

10. The "Sleeping Beauty" diet:

The so-called "Sleeping Beauty" diet was first mentioned in Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel Valley of the Dolls. The plan was for one to use sedatives to induce weight loss. The dieter would take heavy sedatives to sleep for up to 20 hours per day, therefore limiting the amount of time they could eat, similar to intermittent fasting. It was an extremely dangerous method of weight loss, and doctors firmly recommended against it due to the dangerous side effects of the sedation drugs.

Although it was extremely popular throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with notable figures like Elvis reportedly trying it out, the diet has sadly resurfaced in recent years. It is often referred to as "narcorexia."

11. Cotton balls:

According to a 2013 ABC News report, this dangerous diet first took hold in the modeling industry but rose to prominence online. It involves dipping cotton balls in liquids, such as lemonade, juice, or smoothies, and then consuming them. The idea was for the bulk of the cotton ball to cause a feeling of fullness so the dieter would be uninterested in eating actual food and, in turn, lose weight.

However, dining on cotton balls is a terrible idea for numerous reasons. This "diet" can cause side effects such as intestinal blockages, malnutrition, and bleach toxicity, as "cotton balls" are often bleached polyester.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, The National Alliance for Eating Disorder helpline can be reached at 866-662-1235 in the US. The helpline is run by clinicians and offers emotional support for individuals and their family, as well as referrals for all levels of eating disorder care.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.