Total fasting in the treatment of obesity.

(1963) Sulfation factor measurement as an aid in the recognition of pituitary dwarfism. Sulfation factor activity of sera from patients with pituitary disorders. Effects of oestrogen and sex differences on secretion of human growth hormone. The radioimmuno-assay of urine for human growth hormone. Assay of human growth hormone in pregnancy at parturi-tion and in lactation. Brit. med. (1964b) Immunoassay of serum growth hormone in acro-megalic patients. Brit. med. A radioimmuno-electrophoretic assay for human growth hormone. Biochem. (1967) Diabetic retinopathy, II. Comparison of disease remission induced by various degrees of pituitary ablation by Y90. Diabetologia (In press). KNOBIL, E. (1966) The pituitary growth hormone: an adventure in physiology. Physiologist, 9, 25. (1966) Preliminary report on coated charcoal immunoassay of human chorionic 'growth hormone-prolactin' and growth hormone .determined variation in serum insulin and growth hormone response to amino acid stimulation. (1966) Separation of antibody-bound and unbound peptide hormones labelled with iodine-131 by talcum powder and precipitated silica. IN AN affluent and labour-saving society energy intake often exceeds output and consequently obesity is the most frequently encountered metabolic disturbance. It is known to be associated with an increased morbidity and mortality rate. As Harrison & Harden (1966) point out, if this increased mortality rate returns to normal on losing weight (Metropolitan Life Assurance Co., 1962) then measures to lose weight must necessarily be of major therapeutic importance. Current methods of sub-caloric diet weight reduction tend to be very unsatisfactory. Stunkard & McLaren-Hume (1959) showed that out of 100 patients attending an ordinary weight-reduction clinic only two had lost weight after 2 years. Fasting was described by Folin & Denis in 1915 as 'a safe, harmless and effective method for reducing the weight of those suffering from obesity', and in the same year Benedict (1915) reviewed many previous examples of lengthy fasting as well as giving detailed observations on his own patient. Bloom (1959) revived this method of absolute starvation and much interest has since been concentrated on it. Bloom's initial periods of fasting were short, but very much longer periods have since been reported by Thomson, Runcie & Miller (1966) and Harrison & Harden (1966). We are here recording our experience with forty-six patients whose reducing regime started with a standard absolute fast for 14 days. Patients Any patient with sufficient motivation to seek