I don’t think I could do that to myself if I had access to food at home or at work. I agree with your sentiment, but don’t you just start feeding people that are starving and let nature take its course?
The idea was to determine what the physical and psychological effects of starvation were and how to address them most effectively.
It’s been known for a loonnnggg time that if starving people are just suddenly permitted to start eating all they want, many of them will die.