# Were tapeworms ever used for weight loss? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154 "2003-07-09T02:40:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/1 "2003-07-09T02:40:19Z")
My high-school bio teacher once told me that in the 1950s, there was a very popular and effective weight-loss pill on the market – two pills, actually, one to be taken two weeks after the other. The product was discontinued when it came out that the first pill was a tapeworm egg, and the second pill was to kill the tapeworm. During the two weeks you had a tapeworm, the tapeworm would steal some of your food, and you would lose weight. Does anybody know if this is a true story? If so – is there any reason why this method would not work, or would be dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/2 "2003-07-09T03:37:28Z")
[snopes](http://66.165.133.65/horrors/vanities/tapeworm.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Tommyturtle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Tommyturtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tommyturtle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/3 "2003-07-09T05:15:34Z")
I have been to the “House on the Rock” a sort of museum of the really strange in Wisconsin and they have a turn of the century Apothecary all set up that you can look in the windows and see how they used to treat patients and on one of the shelves there are several bottles with a supposedly cure for being overwieght Yup tapeworms…there was even an ad for this treatment on the wall I have no idea of how you were expected to remove the tapeworm once you reach your desired weight…after my almost required ewwwwwwww I moved on to other bizarre things at that museum ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/4 "2003-07-09T12:55:44Z")
I’ll want to see those ads before I believe it. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/5 "2003-07-09T16:17:15Z")
Years back when visiting “Old Tombstone” in Az. There was a shop displaying one of the ads for losing weight with tapeworms. Can’t say if the ad was real or made up. But I did see it. Used to have a photograph of it too. ---
**Author:** ![mulletsunite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mulletsunite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mulletsunite)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/6 "2003-07-09T18:59:22Z")
ewwww…i’m posting this just for the gross factor, but a friend of mine who is in medical school recently told me how they used to get rid of tapeworms before they had medicine to kill them - the person with the tapeworm stopped eating for a few days, then slept with a bowl of milk by their mouth - the tapeworm would come out that way - the worst part is, once you realize it’s coming out, you can’t pull it, b/c it would break and crawl back in - you just have to wait for it to finish crawling out… one of the grossest things i have ever heard… (for the record, you can’t try to get it out of your anus - a live tapeworm would never try to crawl out that way) ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/7 "2003-07-09T19:05:06Z")
I’ve seen many photographs of allegedly authentic tapeworm weight loss ads, usually in biology text books and such. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a real one live and in person, but I haven’t really been trying to. Here’s an authentic-looking hit from Google Images: [http://theoldentimes.com/smithworm.html](http://theoldentimes.com/smithworm.html) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/8 "2003-07-09T20:11:03Z")
I don’t think tapeworms can travel up your digestive tract to your mouth. tapeworm segments do come out of your bum, thats how they spread. Brian ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/9 "2003-07-09T21:20:54Z")
My biology teacher de-bunked the tape worm out the mouth story. Basically because tape worms do not have the muscles to “travel” Please correct me (and my teacher) if I’m wrong… MtM ---
**Author:** ![mulletsunite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mulletsunite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mulletsunite)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/10 "2003-07-09T21:49:19Z")
i actually have no idea if it’s true - a friend of mine told me, so i was just repeating - it freaked me out, that’s just nasty… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/11 "2003-07-09T22:21:00Z")
There are parasitic worms that can emerge from the mouth and anus, I’m just not at all sure that they include tapeworms. ---
**Author:** ![Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horrifying_Howler_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/12 "2003-07-10T01:00:41Z")
I have seen tapeworms come out of a dogs mouth. I don’t need to see it again anytime soon, but I have seen it. (Dog in question was a puppy that was about to die). ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-tapeworms-ever-used-for-weight-loss/187154/13 "2003-07-10T03:09:07Z")
In the book “Seabiscuit,” tapeorms are one of the weight loss stratagies that the jockeys used to get to their target weight before a race.