Though weight-loss diets may seem an essential part of American culture, they are a relatively new fad, which only attained widespread popularity during the 1950s. Although many see dieting as a path to greater health and beauty, others claim that weight-loss diets not only do not work, but they can actually cause weight gain and health problems. Other critics state that women, who are by far the majority of dieters, are often distracted from more positive pursuits by the national focus on thinness.

Thinness has not always been the ideal of beauty or health. In earlier centuries, diets prescribed by doctors were most likely designed to help women gain weight, as thinness was seen as unhealthy and unattractive. It was only in the 1920s, with the arrival of the flapper (see entry under 1920s—Fashion in volume 2) style, that slimness began to symbolize lively, energetic youthfulness. Women began...