The Second World War had brought destruction to the whole world. While the victorious states as a result of the war had multiplied their power, both the losing and the losing states were thinking about how to get through the days that would be quite difficult. In particular, international organizations were trying to find solutions so that people could get rid of the famine that hit the European and Asian regions.
One of those who sought a solution to this issue was Physiologist Ancel Keys. Keys, who was able to find state support for many issues thanks to his contributions to the army, conducted the Minnesota hunger experiment in order to see the physical and psychological effects of hunger on people and to help people in the regions we have just mentioned. Let’s look at the details together.
The hunger experiment was conducted in the Americas, not in Asia and Europe where there was famine. For this reason, volunteers were starved to perform the experiment:
Volunteer participants were required to conduct the experiment. For this reason, on the “Would you starve for better nutrition for them?” written brochures. As a result, hundreds of people applied and as a result of the eliminations, 36 volunteers gathered at the University of Minnesota. In this context, the experiment began on 19 November 1944.
There were four separate stages in the 1-year process. In each of these, all participants were followed in detail. For the first 3 months, all participants were dieted to bring them to a certain standard
In this first episode, participants were required to lose 25 percent of their body weight. You can think of this process as a process of bringing all participants to the same standard to facilitate follow-up. After all, in the future, they will take calories according to their own body’s needs.
The process of bringing everyone to the standard took 3 months and during this process, 3,200 calories were taken per day according to the weights gained. The real challenge would start from here.
After the first three months, calorie intake was halved for everyone. And for six months:
We can call it a semi-starvation period. Because the participants continued to be fed. However, the amount of calories they took was reduced to 1,570 calories per day. During this process, they had the chance to eat only 2 meals, breakfast and lunch. The meals here were simple foods such as potatoes, bread and radishes, just as in famine countries.
Many people were so weakened in the process that their ribs were visible. Moreover, there was not much left who felt as strong as before. There were also decreases in their sexual desire, heart rate, and body temperature. As if these weren’t enough, ‘food’ has now become an obsession.
Some diluted the food using water to make it seem like they were more. Others could not get their heads up from cookbooks. Among the others, there was constant conversation about food.
All they had to do was starve:
From the beginning to the end of the experiment, they were also asked to keep a diary and walk tens of kilometers on treadmills. So the conditions were quite challenging. But only 3 people chose to leave before the end of the experiment. What motivated the others was, as you can imagine, the lives they could have saved.
After 6 months, which were challenging and debilitating participants both physically and psychologically, the 3-month ‘restricted’ healing phase was initiated
- Before the recovery phase and after
At this stage, the participants were divided into groups according to the amount of energy they needed to take, and new diets were determined according to those needs. During this process, the medical teams followed the diet of each person in great detail. The average calorie intake of the participants during this time period was between 2000 and 3200kcal.
In the 8-week final stage, all limitations were removed, and then the experiment was terminated:
As you can guess at this point, everyone almost hung up on food. It is even said that some people are hospitalized from overeating.
What did this experiment do?
This experiment, of course, was not done just so that Americans could understand those experiencing famine. Going beyond that, he revealed the physical and psychological reactions that hunger causes in the human body. As an example, we can show that people are weaker when dealing with hunger or their sexual urges weaken.
From a psychological point of view, it has been observed that when people struggle with hunger, they tend to magnify both negative events and positive events or to become depressed. Moreover, the obsession with food did not go away even after the study. Finally, let us state that the researchers shared the results they found in full after 5 years. What are your thoughts on the experiment?
Sources: Kardelen C. Ergin, Mathematical.org, American Psychological Association, Evolution Tree
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