SLIMMING DRUGS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21156, 1 October 1938, Page 11

SLIMMING DRUGS

A PHYSICIAN’S WARNING TO WOMEN

The injurious effects of unsuitablSj “slimming” methods are to-day becoming painfully apparent, writes a correspondent in the “Manchester Guardian.”

Hardly a week passes without some 1 mention appearing in the news columns of deaths caused by’ the reckless use of “slimming drugs" or other drastic and ill-advised methods. These reported cases, of course, represent only a fraction of the vast amount of ill-health, whose main, if not sole cause, is unwise “slimming" treatment, and do not draw attention to the less dramatic but home-wrecking effects of nervous irritability of the undernourished heads 'of the family. Probably only the niediI cal practitioner is able to form an ade- | quate impression of the harm this craze I has done to women's health. | One of the most prevalent of many slimming fallacies is that certain foods are “fattening.” This, of course, is not true. Potatoes, meat, beer, for instance, are not “fattening,” as every woman to-day appears to believe. These foods and others like them are not “fattening” if taken in moderation and lif the person’s regime is correct in other respects. To eliminate suddenly and completely from one's diet a staple j and normal feature may be a very un-

i wise proceeding. The woman who adi heres to a normal diet, taking moderate I quantities of food with due regard to ; other health factors, is emphatically more likely to benefit herself aesthetij cally than if she doses herself with i drugs or half-starves herself in an I effort to slim. I Finally, may I emphasise the warnj ing given recently by the Chief Medical I Officer to the Ministry of Health? “No ' slimming drugs or preparations should I ever be taken except on medical advice.”