#creepyscientists — Public Fediverse posts

Minnesota Starvation Experiment

Back in 1944, Ancel Keys conducted an experiment on the psychology of hunger called, “The Biology of Human Starvation.” There’s a lot to be learned from that study, starting with the fact that Ancel Keys was a really creepy dude. Not very kind of me perhaps, but I suspect some of his experiments would not be allowed today and raise some serious questions about his ethics.

Many of the “human guinea pigs” were actually conscientious objectors provided an alternative to military combat service, so 36 young men were selected. The goal was to starve them until they lost about 25% of their body weight.

There’s a lot going on within this study, but one interesting part is that they began with 3,200 calories a day, reduced it to about 1600, and eventually 2000. What makes it interesting is that’s not all that restrictive. They weren’t starved as in completely deprived of food. They were fed a few meals a day and a whole lot of it, potatoes, bread, pasta.

What happened is that they all went mad. What I mean is that they developed depression, anxiety, irritability, social withdrawal, fatigue, apathy, and became completely obsessed with food. One man actually went and cut off three of his fingers!

They also discovered that metabolic slowdown is real. We’re designed to survive so if we don’t get enough calories, we hang on tightly to what we got and stop expelling so much energy. And also, caloric deprivation alters human behavior and personality.

Mental health took much longer to stabilize than physical weight.

What triggered this post was a little meme somebody posted about being a 33 yr old teenager still packing himself a lunch that amounts to, a Red Bull and an Uncrustable. It’s just a silly meme, but experience has taught me there’s actually a lot of truth in that diet. Young people especially, are eating utter rubbish in the US and trying to glean some of their missing nutrients from energy drinks.

No shaming intended either! One can have junk food once in a while, it’s just that our brain also needs some legit fuel once in a while. A good amount of the stuff we are eating can hardly even be classified as “food.”

I’ve banged my head on this brick wall for a good 30 years now, which amounts to nothing more than trying to gently whisper to anyone who would listen, you need to eat some real food. Young bodies are often incredibly resilient to all the crap we subject them to, but what isn’t resilient at all even in youth, is our brains, our mental health.

If a Red Bull and a Uncrustable is considered an actual meal, than we are literally starving ourselves. It should come as no surprise that culturally we are also now suffering from record breaking levels of anxiety, depression, apathy, irritability, and social withdrawal.

Food and good nutrition are tightly connected to our mental health. It’s not the only factor, but it is a powerful one.