Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1914-07-23
Special to the Yuma Examiner

|
 by the U. s. Department of Agriculture indicate that the promoters of co-call- ed obesity remedies and fat-reducina. l cures are using an old trick dressed in new clothes to deceive fat people into spending money for worthless or
 dangerous preparations. The adver-
 tisements appeal to the vanity of
 people who wish to regain graceful figures and also to the business nec- essities of those who become so fat that they can no longer do their work efficiently.
 In order to be able to give a defin- ite reply to many people inquiring about specific remedies, the drug spec
 ialists of the Bureau of Chemistry recently conducted series of tests with number of nostrums of this character on employees in the Depart ment who wished to lose surplus flesh
 without injuring their health. One of the most widely so-called prescrip- tions 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 l effect. The third subject gained 21a pounds instead of losing flesh. Anoth- CT of the so-called remedies of a Great Obesity Specialist was tried. The subject scrupulously followed the diet list which accompanied this remedy and faithfully carried out the system of exercises recommended After six months treatment there was a reduc- tion of Is pounds of flesh but this the
 eXperimenters attribute to the fact that the subject ate no bread, butter starchy food pastry, sugar or candy while under observation. The first month after discontinuing the treat ment the subject gained 10 pounds, and in three months was back to the ori- ginal weight recorded at the begin ming of the treatment
 The circulars, letters and other an uouncements of these so-called obesity remedies, which are published broad I cast in many cases asserted that a two-cent stamp is the only charge.
 Those sending the two cents to the supposed philanthropist, who wishes to help other sufferers to get rid of surplus flesh, commonly received a l essor" discovered this remedy in the wilds of some foreign country or re- | ceived it from some famous Indian
 medicine man on his deathbed. Then after due praise of the effectiveness
 If the remedy the professor" states that he is willing to supply this won derful treatment for fee of from $15 to $25 a month%IHf tine prospective patient does not answer immediately he is besieged with line of follow-up letters, and finally as a great indiv- idual favor he is told that he can ob- | tain this marvellous guaranteed flesh
 reducer for $2.5O. In return for the 1 reduced price, however, the patient must agree to tell all his fat friends about this wonderful means of she'd | ding avoirdupois
 Judging from the letters received | by the Department of Agriculture ap- pealing to it to stop this practice under the Food and Drug Act, women are | usually the victims of these pro fessors." Much of the literature con- tains alleged statements of some in | dividual woman's thrilling experience l in fat-forming and fat-reducing, and 1 this makes the situation seem real | and personal to the other women. Cases are on record where women have parted with almost their last | dollar in the hope of improving their | figures, and have awaited results with anticipation that makes their later | disappointment almost pathetic. The strong feature of most of the literature lis that no dieting is necessary; the I medicine is to do it all and the patient
 s told that he can eat all he wants and as often as he wishes, which is strong inducement to most stout peo, | pie.
 These preparations usually contain | thyroids and a laXitive. The thyroids may prove very hurtful unless given under the advice of a physician per sonally familiar with the subjects phy- sical condition. The department has on record an instance where death | has followed overdoses of preparations containing thyroids. Other prepara- tions contain poke root fphytolacca) poisonous drug, and others, analysis shows, contain nothing that could pos sibly have the slightest effect in re- ducing flesh
 The promoters of one preparation assert that it secures most marvellous results 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 it's makers claim for it, would probably eliminate
 any need of digestion in the future. Another product, examination shows. consists principally of ordinary soap.
 The idea is to apply this locally with
 friction and thus remove the fat wher- ever it may be in excess A still more clever scheme provides chemicals to
 be added to the water in which the pa.
 tlent is to bathe. These chemicals are of such nature that they form a sort of curd in the water after the patient
 has bathed. This curd, the advertise
 ment states, is fat and surplus tissue removed from the body. Other schemes
 supply tablet at 75 cents a dozen
 for which the claim is made that it will reduce fat at the rate of pound day.
 No other class of preparations ex- plotted to humbug the people has | Widpr 0a1o and poor1u in