Extreme starvation of Angus Barbieri, who refused food for a whole year

Everyone has heard about prolonged fasting. Many even have experience, having mastered two weeks of fasting in one day. But seriously, giving up food for a long time is an event that requires a lot of willpower from a person. Starving is not only difficult, but also dangerous for health. Therefore, doctors often monitor the process. Angus Barbieri, who went down in history as a record holder for voluntary fasting, also acted under the supervision of specialists. His experiment could have ended sadly, but Angus coped, losing 125 kg in 382 days.

In 1965, studies related to fasting were conducted at the Maryfield Hospital in the Scottish city of Dundee. Scientists have advertised in newspapers that they need obese people with relatively good health. One of them was answered by a resident of Tayport, Angus Barbieri. At the age of 27, the guy weighed 207 kg, which made it difficult for him to do physical work and even walk.

The young man met the requirements and was attracted to participate in the experiment. It was planned that Barbieri would survive without food for a couple of weeks, consuming only special drinks with amino acids and water. After the research was completed, Angus suddenly asked the doctors not to interrupt the experiment. He told them that he dreams of weighing 80-85 kg and is ready to do anything to achieve his goal.

Scientists decided to continue the experiment with fasting, however, outside the walls of the Maryfield clinic. Angus Barbieri was allowed to go home, and the doctors themselves came to monitor his condition. Realizing that it would not be easy to abstain from food, the guy quit his job at his father's fish shop. He minimized communication with the outside world and focused on his goal.

Even a big guy like Barbieri couldn't go completely without nutrients. Therefore, Barbieri's diet included vitamins, electrolytes, a small amount of yeast (a source of essential amino acids) and zero-calorie drinks such as tea, coffee and mineral water. Sometimes, as an exception, Angus allowed himself the luxury of drinking a glass of milk or water with sugar.

Angus Barbieri's fasting lasted 382 days and ended on July 11, 1966. He realized his dream and lost weight from 207 to 82 kg. The man broke up with 125 kg of excess weight and maintained his ideal weight for many years. For a long time, only a narrow circle of specialists knew about the bold experiment. But in 1973, the scientific journal Graduate Medical Journal published a lot of material about Barbieri and his fasting.

It turned out that Angus had accomplished a real feat. His job wasn't just to abstain from eating. Barbieri was tortured daily with measurements and tests that told doctors about the processes in the man's body. Collection of daily urine, blood analysis from a vein, studies of carbon metabolism, measurements of heart rate and blood pressure, checking the reactions of the nervous system — for all this, the subject had almost no free time.

At the end of the experiment, the scientists stated that there were no negative changes in Angus' body. For the first few months, Barbieri felt so cheerful that he sometimes came to his father's store to help with unloading goods. However, later he stopped appearing there. The guy explained this by the fear of breaking down and eating something from the products on the counter.

As expected, there were many who accused the authors of the study and Barbieri of deception. These people, among whom there were many luminaries of medicine, claimed that a person could not do without food for more than a year. There were also those who considered Angus a cunning beast who drove up secretly from doctors. These options were excluded, since Barbieri was regularly given a biochemical blood test by specialists from an independent laboratory. Any reaction of the body associated with obtaining food would be immediately recorded.

Angus Barbieri died in 1990 at the age of 51. The cause of his death is unknown, but there is information that it is not related to excess weight. The man has been watching his figure for many years and only in the last years of his life has he recovered a little. Until now, Barbieri's experiment is considered a classic of fasting and is studied by experts from around the world.

Another risky experiment with fasting was conducted by scientists in Minnesota, USA in 1944.