Report on David Blaine

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LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors who studied American magician David

Blaine after he starved himself in a plastic box near London's Tower

Bridge have finally published their findings two years after the

stunt.

 

 

 

Blaine's blood chemistry was changed and he lost a quarter of his

weight during his 44-day fast, his medical team said in a letter to

the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.

 

" The opportunity to study the effects of refeeding after prolonged

fasting is rare, " they wrote.

 

Blaine drank only water in his 2003 ordeal as he briefly became one

of London's leading tourist attractions, with an estimated quarter of

a million people visiting his riverside stunt.

 

He lost 24.5 kg (54 lb), or 25 percent of his original body weight.

His body mass index, which measures the ratio between height and

weight, shrank from 29.0 to 21.6.

 

Blaine, now 32, took three days to recover his sensation of hunger

after emerging from the fasting box, as doctors fed him with vitamins

and a liquid diet.

 

The doctors listed a range of chemicals in his blood that were

different from a those in a control group of men who had fasted for a

single night.

 

" Despite cautious management, he had hypophosphatemia (low phosphate

levels) and fluid retention, " they wrote. " Grossly elevated levels of

vitamin B12 ... high levels of zinc ... and slightly abnormal liver

function ... were also observed. "

 

The first solid food Blaine ate after ending his fast was a handful

of crisps.

 

Blaine's previous stunts include live burial in a glass coffin and

being encased in a block of ice.