Two local Friends, including an active member of Gunpowder Monthly Meeting, reconciled their objection to military service during WWII by participating in the research study described below.  The results have stood as a benchmark study in human physiology, and more importantly saved countless lives as the findings guided the medical treatment of war starvation victims including those liberated from concentration camps.


 

They Starved So That Others Be Better Fed: Remembering Ancel Keys and
the Minnesota Experiment

    Leah M. Kalm and Richard D. Semba

    The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

ABSTRACT During World War II, 36 conscientious objectors participated in a study of human starvation conducted
by Ancel Keys and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment, as
it was later known, was a grueling study meant to gain insight into the physical and psychologic effects of
semistarvation and the problem of refeeding civilians who had been starved during the war. During the experiment,
the participants were subjected to semistarvation in which most lost  >25% of their weight, and many experienced
anemia, fatigue, apathy, extreme weakness, irritability, neurological deficits, and lower extremity edema. In
2003 - 2004, 18 of the original 36 participants were still alive and were interviewed. Many came from the Historic
Peace Churches (Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker), and all expressed strong convictions about nonviolence and
wanting to make a meaningful contribution during the war. Despite ethical issues about subjecting healthy humans
to starvation, the men interviewed were unanimous in saying that they would do it all over again, even after knowing
the suffering that they had experienced. After the experiment ended, many of the participants went on to rebuilding
war-torn Europe, working in the ministries, diplomatic careers, and other activities related to nonviolence. J. Nutr.
135: 1347-1352, 2005.

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