Weight Loss History

The first described attempt at producing weight loss is those of Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician, in the second century AD. He prescribes elixirs of laxatives and purgatives, as well as heat, massage, and exercise. This remains the mainstay of treatment for well over a thousand years. It was not until the 1920s and 1930s that new treatment begins to appear. Based on its efficiency for hypothyroidism, thyroid hormone became a popular treatment for obesity in otherwise healthy people.