The Biology of Human Starvation was first published in 1950. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

With great areas of the world battling the persistent and basic problem of hunger, this work constitutes a major contribution to needed scientific knowledge. The publication is a definitive treatise on the morphology, biochemistry, physcology, psychology, and medical aspects of calorie undernutrition, cachexia, starvation, and rehabilitation in man. 

Presented critically and systematically are the fact and theory from the world literature, including the evidence from World War II and the finding of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment (1944*1946). Pertinent experiments and field and clinical observations to 1949 are covered. 

The extensive original research involved was conducted at the University of Minnesota Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene, which Dr. Keys heads. The authors, all of the laboratory staff, were assisted in preparation of the work by Ernst Simonson, Samuel Wells and Angie Sturgeon Skinner.