Iowa Tapeworm Diet: Woman Swallows Tapeworm To Lose Weight (VIDEO)

An Iowa woman recently told her doctor that she swallowed a tapeworm in order to lose weight. The doctor did not know what to do so he asked for advice from the state’s public health department for advice.

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, the medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, then relayed the message to the public saying, “Ingesting tapeworms is extremely risky and can cause a wide range of undesirable side effects, including rare deaths. Those desiring to lose weight are advised to stick with proven weight loss methods — consuming fewer calories and increasing physical activity.”

There are a few different kinds of tapeworms, but it’s the beef tapeworm, or Taenia saginata, that is usually used in these sorts of quick weight-loss schemes, Quinlisk says.

Quinlisk says that the capsules sold in the past by snake oil hucksters, and online today, likely contain the microscopic head of a Taenia saginata.

“When people would order from snake oil medicine kinds of people a weight loss pill, it would be the head of a Taenia saginata … and it would develop into a 30-foot-long tapeworm in your body,” Quinlisk says. “The worm would get into your gut – it’s got little hooks on the head – and it would grab onto your intestine and start growing.”

Does the Tapeworm Diet work?

Watch these videos from the Tyra Banks show.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4