Medicine has taken huge leaps in the past centuries and even decades. Although we still don’t fully understand how some functions in our bodies work and how certain diseases come to be, we do know much more about health today than ever before.
This means that we’re also changing the way we take care of ourselves along with how we prevent and treat disease and other conditions. Here are a few strange and not so strange health products and remedies from the past that you don’t see anymore, thankfully!
Fish oil
If your grandma gave you a spoonful of stinky fish oil when you were a kid, chances are you don’t do that to your own children; after all, no health benefit is worth the not that pleasant taste. Still, fish oil was widely recommended as a supplement even before all the present supplement craze.
And yes, fish oil has lots of Omega-3 fatty acids and nutrients, but today no one recommends it anymore. Supplements are less effective than eating food rich in such nutrients. For example, eating salmon or tuna twice a week is much better for you than drinking fish oil every day.
Placenta pills
We’re sure you’ve heard about celebrity moms and also regular moms drinking placenta pills. With the help of specialized people, these women save their placenta after birth, powder it and drink it in capsules or ingest it in many other ways. The idea behind this odd practice is that the placenta is super nutritious and has plenty of ‘healthy’ hormones.
The risks of consuming placenta are low, but so are the benefits. Although it sounds like a good idea, you don’t get any more benefits from eating placenta than from eating a few chicken livers now and then.
Fat burner belts
Perhaps you’ve seen the old footage from the 60s and 70s where women would wrap a jiggly fat-burning belt around their waists to burn that fat. The trend evolved to more sophisticated fat burner belts and full-body fat-burning suits.
Well, they don’t work, none of them. The only way of burning fat is by using more calories than you consume, and you can only achieve this with a healthier diet and regular exercise.
Do you want to burn fat while you sleep? You don’t even need any product. Just make sure you have a robust muscle mass, and your body will burn as much fat as it needs to keep those muscles strong and healthy. Work out, people!
Mercury to treat syphilis
Okay, this one is an old one, but if talking about health treatments we don’t use anymore, why not mention the practice of consuming mercury to treat syphilis? This was customary practice in the 1300s and all the way to the late 1700s, and, of course, the ‘remedy’ killed more people than syphilis itself.
Penicillin is now one of the most common ways of treating syphilis, which is still a thing. The antibiotic is still one of the most potent medications for all types of infections.
Arsenic to lose weight
During the 1800s, consuming the deadly arsenic, a few drops at a time, was considered an effective way of losing weight. By adding arsenic to drinks, more often than not coffee, the chemical would eventually cause diarrhea, making you lose weight. The body loses the ability to absorb any nutrient from food.
Of course, diarrhea is not a safe way of losing weight. You’re better off eating healthier and enjoying smaller meals. The worst part is that diarrhea is life-threatening but arsenic building up in your body is more so. Arsenic causes certain death.
Staying healthy is easier than you think!
Health remedies from the past might sound tempting; after all, we grew up with some of them! Well, they can be as dangerous as modern trendy health treatments not backed by science. If you want to stay healthy, eat a balanced, natural diet and work out. If there’s something wrong with you, talk to a doctor and never medicate yourself.
