From urban legend to reality?

It's a famous (possibly true) urban legend: women knowingly or unknowingly swallowing tapeworms to lose weight.


But if this story is on the ball, it looks like it just became fact:

Female Chinese students resort to eating roundworm eggs to ensure they look thin for job interviews

Female students in China have been eating roundworm eggs to lose weight for job interviews - because employment is so hard to come by.

They hatch in the stomach, allowing those who take them to shed pounds without exercising or dieting in the Xiamen, China.