Responses of Extremely Obese Patients to Starvation

Abstract

In a pilot study of the psychological and physiological effects of intermittent fasting (periods up to 80 days) in the reduction of superobese patients to normal weight, none of the depressive-inhibitory phenomena reported in starving normalweight humans was observed, although the patients were kept fully ambulatory. Episodes of anxiety and depression were observed but were related to problems with family members, the doctor-patient relationship, or disturbances in the ward milieu and not to fasting or weight loss. Although it can be concluded that starvation is not harmful[long dash]psychologically or physiologically[long dash]in the treatment of obesity, further studies are necessary to show how effective it may be in terms of lasting effects.