The Minnesota Starvation Experiment

The study […] used 36 men […] The subjects were all white males, with ages ranging from 22 to 33 years old.“

No ethics committee would allow a truly definitive study, as that would include kids and pregnant women, and female volunteers would be harder to find, but this was either “everyday sexism” or just laziness. Male volunteers in that age range were easier to find, given military conscription.