History of Slimming Diets up to the Late 1950s

Abstract

Nowadays, obesity is a pandemic, and some people seek slimming diets to guarantee their health and quality of life. However, the cult of the healthy body has been an ongoing concern since the beginning of time. Irrespective of the century to which they belong, these cults reflect no empirical knowledge about physiology, nutrients or kilocalories, with some of them being quantitative diets in contrast to qualitative diets, or even simple food recommendations. On the other hand, some of these treatments might have led to the death of a patient, meaning that it is important for people seeking to lose weight to be followed by a nutrition professional until the individual reaches a desirable body weight. In this article, we highlight that each century and each decade have devised different treatments with the aim of improving health, but it will be science and history that will judge whether the results of these treatments have been adequate.

Curiosities of Weight Loss Diets of the Last 60 Years

“…The application of the internet and the appearance of social networks do not help the population obtain information based on scientific evidence, which can be a severe health problem. The number of diets that promise weight loss in an 'easy, fast and fun' way grows' which, in addition to being ineffective, can seriously endanger the life of the patient, as is reflected in a previous review [2] focused on humanity's first historical diet; called Spartan treatment, to diets of the end of 1950s. This study's objective is to review the curiosities of these slimming treatments for adults from the 1960s to the present, including the scientific justification that supports or contradicts their effectiveness.…”