The Minnesota Starvation Experiement

Reading is obviously something I love. I study English after all. Reading a few food psych books, chapters and antidiet books helped me immensely in my recovery. Having that 'real' evidence-based knowledge, that could counteract any AN thoughts, helped me an incredible amount. It isn't easy rationalising against an eating disorder, but actively seeking material which improves you knowledge made it a hell of a lot easier. Taking the initiative and learning, helped me see that so much of what I believed before was nonsense.

This post might be a long one. It’s something that I find super interesting. Maybe you will too. If you're a slow reader, maybe grab a snack. If you're not a slow reader, maybe also grab a snack.

In November 1944, 36 young men (who weren't fighting in the war) took up residence in rooms inside University of Minnesota football stadium. Thousands of men applied but only those who demonstrated excellent physical and mental healthwere permitted to continue. I would say the 'lucky few'were volunteers preparing for experiment on the psychological and physiological effects of starvation (later coined The Minnesota Starvation Experiment), but they weren't lucky.The experience was close to torture. You’ve probably heard of this experiment before. It's actully what the "Minny (Minesota) Maud" recovery method is based on.

In short, the experiment aimed to find out how to reverse the effects of semi-starvation due to the lack of food caused by WWII  Here's what happened. It was basically executed in 4 stages:

The 4 stages:

1. For the first three months the men were fed to their optimum weight and monitored. This 'normal diet' was 3,200 calories per day, something that I found quite surprising. 3200 was suggested to be an average intake for an active man at the time to maintain his weight. 

2. Next their rations were cut dramatically. They went through six months of 'semi-starvation' at 1,570 calories a day (divided between breakfast and lunch). Bare in mind that these men were not starved to the brink of death, but fed approximately 1,600 calories a day. Some modern diet meal plans suggest we eat 1200 calories per day. That's certainly a number that lingers in my head like an ugly hooded figure. It leaves me questioning, if 1,600 calories was classed 'semi starvation', what on earth is 1200?

3. Then there was a restricted rehabilitation period of three months- involving the consumption of 2,000 to 3,200 calories a day. This was sort of ~controlled recovery~ I guess. It wasn't unrestricted eating.

4. Finally there was an eight-week unrestricted rehabilitation period during which there were no limits on caloric intake. This was complete unrestricted eating. During this time, one man was reported to eat 17,000 calories. Many ate around 11,000. Yes. In one day.

Also to note that during the experiment, the men were required to:

• work 15 hours per week in the lab

• walk 22 miles per week

• participate in a variety of educational activities for 25 hours a week.

Throughout the experiment, the researchers measured the physiological and psychological changes brought on by near starvation.

Long story short: the study concluded that the deprivation of food drove these men to "the threshold of insanity."

I’ll share some of the results with you and maybe you can identify with a few, (if not all) of these psychological behavioural changes.  I shook my head with disbelief as I noticed the similarities to my ED-related behaviour and theirs. As you’re reading, bear in mind that these men were ‘normal’ and perfectly physically and mentally sound before the experiment.They weren’t nutters. After restricted food intake however… perhaps 'nutters' is a more appropriate description. A lack of food made them go close to madness.

Here are the results. I mainly focus on Psychological symptoms, but first, here are a few some physical ones.

Physical symptoms:

Beyond the gaunt appearance of the men, there were significant decreases in:

• Strength and stamina,

• Body temperature,

• Heart rate

• Sex drive

• Basal metabolic rate.

Perhaps none of these surprise you. These decrease to preserve energy. The men didn't have spare energy to waste so something like producing sex hormones or a quick heart rate would require too much energy.

And now for the psychological symptoms. These were significant.

Food Preoccupation:

Food became the sole source of fascination and motivation.

For the men, the days began to revolve around meal times. They dreamed about food, they fantasized about high calorie/high fat food items they couldn’t access.They spent much of their time talking about food, recipes, agriculture. They became agitated if the timing of the meal schedule was changed or if a meal was delayed. Some of the men reported experiencing pleasure just by watching others eat or smelling food.Many men began obsessively collecting recipes. One wrote in his diary about how he "Stayed up until 5 a.m. last night studying cookbooks,". This makes me cringe. My light morning's reading used to be 'Mary Berry’s Favourites' cookbook.

This is an observation that a researcher noted in his diary: "They would coddle [the food] like a baby or handle it and look over it as they would some gold. They played with it like kids making mud pies." Weird, right? Well... actually, not really. I identify with most ofthose behaviours.

Disinterest in Old Interests:

Meanwhile, all other elements of the men’s life became unimportant. Personal development, learning and basic socialising wasn’t a priority for the men. "Budding romances collapsed" and sexual desire evaporated. At parties, the subjects found conversation both difficult and pointless. They all preferred a solitary trip to the movies, adding that, while they could recognise comedy, they never felt compelled to laugh anymore.

I shook my head in disbelief at this too. This is exactly the type of behavior that restriction of food made me do. Especially the isolating, not smiling and withdrawing thing.

Brain fog:

The men reported a decline in concentration, comprehension and judgment capabilities. This happened to me. I really can't remember much about last year or the few years before. It all just seems like a blur. This made it considerably harder to rationalise recovery-related things, such as feast eating. Let alone do my A-Levels.

Mood Symptoms:

The mood and energy of the men quickly shifted. Originally the men had debated about politics and other common interests. They held lengthy, interesting conversations. During and after the study the men became single-mindedly focused on food, other topics were ever discussed. The men reported fatigue, irritability, depression and apathy.

There was also one case of self-mutilation (one subject amputated three fingers with an axe).

At the meal table, the men often turned on one another, annoyed by each other's voices and the increasingly strange eating habits that many men developed. This is something I relate to a lot. People having their elbows on the table or eating rudely used to make me go mad.

So, the men were irritable, anxious, withdrawn. A significant increase in anxiety and obsessive thinking was observed. Does this sound familiar to you?

Strange eating habits:

The men attempted to extend their eating experiences as long as they could, not wanting the pleasurable experience to end. They seemingly tried to optimise the food experience.

As the months went on, eating became an even more ritualised. Plate-licking was common as the men sought out ways to extend mealtime and or feel fuller. Here are some more examples:

They guzzled water, seeking fullness.They diluted potatoes with water.They held bites in their mouths for a long time without swallowing.They created strange combinations of the food on their plate, "making weird and seemingly distasteful concoctions,"the researchers reported.One man began collecting empty coffee cups. (Hoarding).

Reading this leaves me feeling a little less weird for the strange food combinations I fell in love with a few years ago. Only a little less weird though... I still cringe/gag. Butternut squash with ketchup and salt. Eeeuuuhhhhhggg!!!

Also interesting is that one of the men was told he had to leave the experiment due to breaking rules (smuggling food), and do you know what he did when he was discharged? He stopped at 17 soda shops on the walk home.

Distorted Self Image:

Strangely, in spite of their significant weight loss and underweight appearance, the majority of them did not view themselves as underweight. These men, who had never experienced body confidence issues previously, began to report on feeling uncomfortable about looking at their abdominal area. Hmm... interesting.

Stick your tongue out if you identify with any of these.

What happened after the experiment (recovery)...

So, the study basically revealed that deprivation of food doesn’t only have to have physical effects. Yes, the men did have a gaunt appearance, but for me, the psychological effects are more startling.

I was interested to read about how and if the men recovered, perhaps seeking to see if I could learn anything from it. And do you know what made the men mentally (and physically) better and back to their ‘old selves’? One guess.

Food. Lots of food. Not just a little bit more. Loads.

To everyone's relief, the subjects' moods and social behavior stabilized three months later. But when it came to eating, the men agreed they were not "back to normal."Many ate "more or less continuously"and a subgroup of the subjects continued bingeing to the point of sickness, even eight months later. This shows the prolonged effect that starvation has on your body. In recovery you need a lot of food for a prolongued period of time. This meaning continuing and not running back to restriction when times get hard.

As the men restored their nutrition and weight, their behavior appeared to normalize. There did not appear to be any enduring health problems once the men restored. This required a consistently large amounts of food. The study found that the men had extraordinary calorie needs – requiring over 4000 calories per day in order to slowly restore weight. As I said earlier, many of the men consistently exceeded 11,000 for a while before their habits normalised.

So what does this study tell us?

If you're anything like me, a lot of info I hear & read goes in one ear (& eye??) and out of the other. So, here's some summarising points that I found most useful to take away. You probably already know them...

Decreasing our food intake has a huge impact on our mental health. If you’re suffering from a restrictive eating disorder (which I assume you are if you’re reading this) you’ll know that.

But here's key to repairing the mental (and physical damage: Food. Food made the men mentally well again.

Don’t judge yourself for doing something that is built into every single mammal’s survival instincts. Prolonged restriction of food negatively impacts mood. Restriction and weight loss may lead to an increase in anxiety symptoms and obsessive thinking. And again, ss. Your feast eating (intake of abnormally large amounts of food) is SO NORMAL.

Don’t judge yourself for doing something that is built into every single mammal’s survival instincts.Prolonged restriction of food negatively impacts mood. Restriction and weight loss may lead to an increase in anxiety symptoms and obsessive thinking. And again, long term adequate nutrition is shown to resolve this.

In short, in recovery, stop over-complicating things. What’s the most important thing to healing? FOOD, FOOD and MORE FOOD. As soon as you nutritionally rehabilitate, the better. Stop waiting. It isn't as easy as 'just eat' but... it sort of needs to be. Your mental state will improve with it and then you can address any issues that lead to your energy deficit with therapy. That energy deficit you’ve put your body in, is a viper pit. I found this SO interesting and useful to apply to my own recovery. I hope it is useful for you too.