Health Fads

Worksheet 1 -

Tape Worm Diet:

People would swallow small tape worms which would eventually eat all of their food which would make them grow larger. 

Chew and Spit:

People were sure that by chewing the food it extracted all the nutrients without them gaining the weight.

Radioactive Drinks:

Radioactive drinks were considered energy drinks that had healing powers. 

Waist Trainers: 

Waist trainers are a device that claims to help you lose weight around your waist.

Heated Classes:

Exercise classes in heated rooms that claim to help you sweat out your water weight, therefore helping you lose weight.

Worksheet 2 -

Question 1:

Tapeworm - Its promoted in science shows and books as extremely effective (which it is), it is also reviewed as dangerous but people decide to do it anyway.

Chew and Spit - It was very popular in the early 2000s and it was glamourised all over social media such as facebook and myspace, and because doctor or scientific reviews on the internet didn't really exist, nobody thought it was bad.

Radioactive Drinks - This method was discovered way before the internet but it was still popularised by celebrities and the wealthy people of that time. It was seen as organic and a natural way to lose weight.

Question 2:

Question 3: 

Tape Worm - It was even reviewed by scientists to be extremely effective, who also told the dangers of the fad, but it was disregarded.

Chew and Spit - I believe everybody on the internet in the early 2000s was a little bit, well...stupid. This is probably why everyone believed such an unbelievable story. It made sense to them.

Radio ative Drinks - Celebrities and the wealthy claimed it was all natural and organic and that made everybody think it was okay and safe to use.

Question 4:

Tape Worm - Anybody who has sense and actually read the side effects would understand that it is extremely dangerous and painful.

Chew and Spit - The chew and spit method is actually a form of an eating disorder and any doctors who had heard of the method would know what it claimed to do was incorrect.

Radioactive Drinks - Scientists who have studied radioactivity would know how dangerous it actually is.

Question 5:

All of the fads I selected are extremely dangerous and painful, so it is hard for me to pick one. If i had to pick one it would have to be the Tape Work diet though, as it would be one of the only fads that you could come out of alive.

Question 6:

I would never try the Radio Active Drink fad because with today's technology I now know how dangerous it is and how likely it is that I would die if i tried it.

Question 7:

Tape Worm - Extremely painful, Dangerous and the way to get rid of the worm isn't pleasant.

Chew and Spit - A type of eating disorder, doesn't completely do what it says it does.

Radioactive Drinks - Radioactivity is obviously dangerous on its own, and digesting it is life threatening.

Worksheet 3 -

Heath Fad - Chew and Spit

Person - Lacey Smarr, 15, Female

Duration of Heath fad - 1 Year

Reason for going on Health Fad - Bullying

Symptoms - Fainted, Hospital Trips

Did the Health Fad achieve what it claimed in any way? - She went from 126 pounds to 88 pounds.

Details of other similar cases:

I could not find any information about other similar cases, there are however many other cases on other types of eating disorders similar.

Health Fad - Waist Trainers

Person - Leslie Deluca, 26, Female

Duration of Health Fad - 9 hours

Reason for going on health fad - No articles state the exact reason but it's presumed that it was so she could lose weight. 

Symptoms - She fell asleep while wearing a waist trainer and suffocated, if she was awake when she died she probably would have experienced intense pain in her abdomen area.

Did the health fad achieve what it claimed in any way?

The victim was wearing a waist trainer for over 9 hours and it is advised not to be worn for over 7 so I'm sure it had a big effect on her appearance.

Details of other similar cases :

The article I read stated that over 10 other people had died from waist trainers in the same week and others had gone into anaphylactic shock.

Worksheet 4 -

Tanning Beds

-Teenagers, older women and people trying to get a tan and who are un-confident in the way they look.

-Cancer, spots or freckles needing to be cut out of skin.

-419,254 of cases of cancer in the US are because of tanning beds.

Appetite Suppressant 

-Anybody wanting to lose weight 

-Mood swings, nausea, heart racing, dizziness, depression, cardiovascular problems

-Phentermine is an addictive drug and they have extreme withdrawal effects.

While completing and researching the various tasks I have learnt that not all products do what they say they will do and that there is a lot of false advertising when it comes to that type of thing. I also discovered that just if a certain celebrity I admire or look up to promotes a certain product or health fad, claiming that it works, doesn’t mean I haven’t have to buy or try it just for that reason. There are a variety of methods that company’s try using to persuade society to try their health fads. Lots of company’s use social media to promote their products and health fads, like creating Instagram accounts and tweeting or snap chatting about it. These companies also pay people with a larger internet following to promote these products. These people getting paid usually have a script they need to follow that they use when talking about the product on a post with a photo, usually of them trying the health fads or product, and some people getting paid more might talk about it and how their audience could try it at home in a YouTube video. In these videos they usually talk about how to try the health fad, where the can find the equipment they need to try it and the benefits of it. They never speak about the bad side effects that usually always come with popular health fads as this may lead to their audience thinking that it is not safe and that they should not try it. Company’s obviously should put warning labels of all the side effects (good and bad) and should encourage the people they pay to promote the products and health fads to do the same. This way if anything goes wrong and any one still continues to try the fad they cannot blame anyone that promoted it or the endorsers.