Sunday, May 08, 2005

When bulimia was routine? JAD Salts, 1920.

LILEKS (James) Old Newspaper Ads: JAD Salts, 1920s

Lilek's scan of a 1920s ad promotes JAD Salts as a weight loss method. (I love the commentary)

How did they work? I was able to find a recipe, but I'm unsure as to whether they'd induce diarrhea or vomiting or (most likely) both:
Jad Salts. Contains sodium phosphate, sodium and potassium bicarbonates, citric and tartaric acids with a small amount of hexamethylene tetramine. (Wiley's 1001 Tests).
I'd like to know more about the weight loss methods of the 1920s. Was purging socially acceptable?

1 comment:

  1. Sodium phosphate is used as part of some colonoscopy preps. So yeah, JAD would have worked by giving the user a chronic case of the runs.

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