The most renowned faster of modern times was Mahatma Gandhi...

The most renowned faster of modern times was Mahatma Gandhi, who in his passive resistance to British rule in India engaged in 15 fasts, three of them lasting 21 days. Usually his only sustenance was hot water, sometimes with lime juice. Although he grew so weak at times that he could not lift a glass, he remained mentally alert, and there is no evidence that he suffered any lasting ill effects. Perhaps the most carefully observed forbearance from eating was that of A.

Levanzin, a lawyer and publisher in Malta, who believed that fasting had cured him, his wife and their two children of serious illnesses. In 1912 he went to the Carnegie Institution in Boston and submitted himself to a 31 day study. Levanzin, who was five feet seven inches tall and weighed 9 stone 8 lb., lived under closest scrutiny day and night, existing on nothing but distilled water.

A retinue of specialists made daily tests and observations of his physical condition, his subjective impressions and mental attitude. As he himself had predicted, Levanzin had no sensation of hunger, and no desire for food. He experienced no abdominal pain or discomfort. On the 11th day he was conscious of muscular fatigue, but on the 14th day he ran down a flight of stairs without difficulty. His memory, tested daily, was as good at the end as at the beginning.

A year later, to see whether he had suffered in any way from his long self-denial, Levanzin was put through the same tests. He did as well or better on nearly all of them. Said his examiners, "It is an indisputable fact that, according to the tests, there was no lasting evil effect of the fast, either upon muscular strength or mental activity."…