Rotund Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters introduced a new word, calorie, to the world in 1918. Peters’ book, 'Diet and Health, With a Key to Calories', which included a phonetic spelling of the word “calorie,” because so many people were unfamiliar with it. It probably sold more than a million copies and established calorie-counting as the framework of a good health.
The diet regime gave a dangerous tool to those looking for a way to quantify and reduce their food intake. The Scarsdale Diet of 1979, a strict 700-calorie a day diet that works, because you are starving.