Editing Ancel Keys (section)

===Starvation study===
{{main|Minnesota Starvation Experiment}}

During World War II, Keys produced various studies related to human physical performance that were of interest to the military, such as studying the effects of [[methyltestosterone|testosterone]] on muscle work<ref name='Samuels1942'>{{cite journal | title = Influence of Methyl Testosterone on Muscular Work and Creatine Metabolism in Normal Young Men | journal = Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism | first = Leo | last = Samuels |author2=Austin Henschel |author3=Ancel Keys  | volume = 2 | issue = 11 | pages = 649–654 | year = 1942| doi =  10.1210/jcem-2-11-649 |url=http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/2/11/649 | access-date = February 6, 2011}}</ref> and vitamin supplementation as a performance enhancer on adequately fed soldiers,<ref name='Keys1943'>{{cite journal | title = The performance of normal young men on controlled thiamine intakes | journal = Journal of Clinical Nutrition | year = 1943 | first = Ancel | last = Keys |author2=Austin Henschel |author3=Olaf Mickelsen |author4=Josef Brozek  | volume = 26 | issue = 4 | pages = 399–415|url=http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/26/4/399.pdf | access-date = February 6, 2011}}</ref><ref name='Keys1942'>{{cite journal | title = Vitamin supplementation of US Army rations in relation to fatigue and the ability to do muscular work | journal = Journal of Clinical Nutrition | year = 1942 | first = Ancel | last = Keys |author2=Austin Henschel | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 259–269|url=http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/23/3/259.pdf | access-date = February 6, 2011}}</ref> among many other similar studies. It was during the war that Keys and fellow researchers recognized the importance of knowing how to properly treat widespread starvation, since simple overfeeding for so many would be imprecise and there was a potential that the refeeding would fail.<ref name=Buskirk1992/>

To gain insight into the physiology of starvation, in 1944 Keys carried out a starvation study with 36 [[conscientious objectors]] as test subjects in the [[Minnesota Starvation Experiment]]. At the time, conscientious objectors were being placed in virtual concentration camps, with a few functioning like the [[Civilian Public Service]], so that recruiting them would prove easier than seeking out volunteers in the general population.<ref name=Kalm_2005/><ref name=Buskirk1992/> The original pool of 400 responders was reduced to 36 selectees, of whom 32 would go on to complete the study.<ref name='Keys1950'>{{cite book | last1 = Keys | first1 = Ancel | author-link1 = Ancel Keys | title = The Biology of Human Starvation | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | year = 1950 | location = Minneapolis | pages = 262}}</ref> The main focus of the study was threefold: set a metabolic baseline for three months, study the physical and mental effects of starvation on the volunteers for six months, and then study the physical and mental effects of different refeeding protocols on them for three months.<ref name=Kalm_2005/> The participants would first be placed on the three-month baseline diet of 3200 calories after which their calories were reduced to 1800 calories/day while expending 3000 calories in activities such as walking. The final three months were a refeeding period where the volunteers were divided into four groups, each receiving a different caloric intake.<ref name=Kalm_2005/>

The war came to an end before the final results of the study could be published, but Keys sent his findings to various international relief agencies throughout Europe<ref name=Hoffman1979/> and, by 1950, he completed publication of his two-volume 1385-page ''Biology of Human Starvation''.<ref name=Kalm_2005/><ref name=Buskirk1992/>