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Show WORTHLESS ANTIFAT "CURES" Numerous inquiries received recently i by the department of agriculture indicate indi-cate that promoters of so-called obesity remedies and fat-reducing cures tire using an old trick pressed in new clothes to deceive fat people into spending money for worthless or dangerous preparations. pre-parations. The advertisements appeal to the vanity of people who wish to regain re-gain graceful figures and also to the business necessities of those who become be-come so fat that they can no longer do their work efficiently. In order to be able to give a definite reply to many people inquiring about specific remedies, the drug specialists of the Bureau of Chemistry recently conducted a series of tests with a number num-ber of nostrums of this character en employees in the department who wished wish-ed to lose surplus flesh without injuring their health. One of the most widely advertised so-called prescriptions for reducing flesh was tried for a period of six months. The result was that two of the subjects under experimentation were obliged to stop after taking the medicine for two or three weeks because j of its injurious effect. The third sub-1 ject gained ty pounds instead ef losing j flesh. Another of the so-called remedies of a "great obesity specialist" was tried. The subject scrupulously followed follow-ed the diet list which accompanied this remedy and faithfully carried out the system of exercises recommended. After six months' treatment, there was a reduction of 18 pounds of flesh, but this the experimnnters attribute to the fact that the subject ate no bread, butter, but-ter, Btarchy food, pastry, augar or candy can-dy while under observation. The first month after discontinuinn the treatment treat-ment the subject gained 10 pounds, and in three months w as bark to the t riginal weight recorded at the beginning of the treatment. The circulars, letters and other announcements an-nouncements of these so-called obesity remedies, which are published broadcast, broad-cast, in many cases asserted that a 2 cent stamp is the oniy charge. Those sending the 2 cents to the supposed philanthropist, who wishes to help other suffers to get rid of surplus flesh, commonly com-monly received a statement that the "phyBican" or "professor" discovered this remedy in the wilds of some foreign country or received it from some famous Indian medicine man on his deathbed. Then after due praise of the effectiveness effective-ness of the remedy the "professor" states that he is willing to supply this wonderful treatment for a fee of from $15 to $25 a month. If the prospective patient does not answer immediately he is besieged with a hue of follow-up letters, let-ters, and finally as a great individual favor he is told that he can obtain this marvelous guaranteed flesh reducer for ' ihe sum of $2.50. In return for the re-duced re-duced price, however, the patient must agree to tell all his fat friends about this wonderful means of shedding avoir- ' dupois. Judging from the letters received by ; the department of agriculture appeal- i ing to it to stop this practice under the j food and drugs act, women are usually 1 the victims of these "professors." j Much of the literature contains alleged i statements of some individual woman's thrilling experience in fat-forming and . fat-reducing, and this makes the situation situa-tion seem real and personal to the other women. Cases are on record where women have parted with almost thir last dollar in the hope of 'improving their figures, and have awaited results wtih anticipation that makes their later disappointment almost pathetic. The strong feature of most of the literatuie is that no dieting is necessary; the medicine is to do it all and the patient is told that he can eat all he wants and as often as he wishes, which is a strong inducement to most stout people. These preparations usually contain thyroids and a laxative. The thyroids may prove very hurtful unless given under the advice of a physician personally person-ally familiar with the subject's physical condition. The department of agriculture agricul-ture has on record an instance where death has followed overdoses of preparations pre-parations containing thyroids. Other preparations contain poke root (Phytolacca), (Phyto-lacca), a poisonous drug, and others, analysis shows, contain nothing that could possibly have the slightest effect in reducing flesh. The promoters of one preparation assert as-sert that it secures most marvelous re-sulcs re-sulcs by a process of elimination of foods without digestion. These people guarantee the reduction of a pound a day. A preparation of this character, if it did what its makers claim for it, would probably eliminate any need of digestion in the future. Another product, pro-duct, examination shows, consists principally prin-cipally of ordinary soap. The idea is to apply this locally with friction and thus remove the fat wherever it may be in excess. A still more clever scheme provides chemicals to be added to the water in which the patient is to bathe. These chemicals are of such a nature that they form a sort of curd in the water after the patient has bathed, j This curd, the advertisement states, is ; fat and surplus tissue removed from J the body. Other schemes supply a i tablet at 75 cents a dozen for which a claim is made that it will reduce fat at the rate of a pound a day. No other class of preparations ex-1 ex-1 ploited to humbug the people has a wider sale, and in nearly every instance they are absolutely worthless. In many ' cases where patients seem to lose weight this result is attributed to the hot baths and the diet and exercises recommended as an accompaniment in taking the medicine. The only ways that the department of agricultural specialists know of safely safe-ly reducing flesh are rigid dieting, and strenueus exercise, and those to be effective ef-fective must be continued over a leng period of time. The fat reducing pati-! pati-! ent must eliminate from his diet fats, starcny foods, and sugar. In many ' cases it is not wise, because of other j phyncal conditions, for fat people to I attempt any rapid reduction in weight, j As a general rule, diet and exercise are ; best directed by a skilled physician. Loss of flesh is bv no means a blessing if accompanied by loss of health, energy or strength. It is practically impossible to prevent the sale of these preparations in interstate inter-state commerce under the food and drugs act for the reason that the claims upon the packages are purposely so guarded as lo evade action. As a rule the claims, guaranties, etc., appear in advertisements, circular letters, etc., and these the maki rs are very careful to keep separate frorn the package. The Post Office D partment, how ever, has been instrumental in silencing silenc-ing some of these promoters by issuing fraud orders against them and denying them the use of the mails. The department depart-ment ef agriculture, can only warn the people to beware of all preparations containing such claims, for in the knowledge know-ledge of all drug specialists at the present pre-sent time there is no preparation that can be depended upon to reduce flesh in any marked degree without doing injury. |