How long can you go without food?
August 24th 2006 07:05
How long can you go without food?
The body requires water at the very least, every 2-3 days. This is because as most of you know, it makes up around 70% of our bodys cells. We can be without food however, for several weeks before death by starvation occurs.
When the body is without food it seeks to find nourishment in itself! After glucose stores are used (like they usually are without fasting), your body turns to the fat stores and uses them as a source of energy to keep you alive. So at this point the body would have lost a lot of weight and would obviously have become very thin. After the fat stores have come near to depletion, your muscle will be broken down. Your skeletal muscle (your calves and biceps for example) will start to waste away - and you could assume that itd become very difficult to move after this.
I learnt in a lecture today that one poor lad who was lost in the mountains survived 3 weeks on just ice, and when they found him he was having heart problems such as cardiac arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat) because after depleting his glucose, fat and skeletal muscle stores, his body had begun to consume his heart muscle! Since the size of his heart was permanently altered, he will have heart problems for the rest of his life.
tarved_prisoners%2C_nearly_dead_from_hunger%2C_pose_in_concentration_camp_in_Ebensee%2C_Austria.jpg" target="_blank">Image in the Public Domain
The body requires water at the very least, every 2-3 days. This is because as most of you know, it makes up around 70% of our bodys cells. We can be without food however, for several weeks before death by starvation occurs.
When the body is without food it seeks to find nourishment in itself! After glucose stores are used (like they usually are without fasting), your body turns to the fat stores and uses them as a source of energy to keep you alive. So at this point the body would have lost a lot of weight and would obviously have become very thin. After the fat stores have come near to depletion, your muscle will be broken down. Your skeletal muscle (your calves and biceps for example) will start to waste away - and you could assume that itd become very difficult to move after this.
Starved prisoners at a concentration camp in Austria. See how their muscle has wasted away?
I learnt in a lecture today that one poor lad who was lost in the mountains survived 3 weeks on just ice, and when they found him he was having heart problems such as cardiac arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat) because after depleting his glucose, fat and skeletal muscle stores, his body had begun to consume his heart muscle! Since the size of his heart was permanently altered, he will have heart problems for the rest of his life.
tarved_prisoners%2C_nearly_dead_from_hunger%2C_pose_in_concentration_camp_in_Ebensee%2C_Austria.jpg" target="_blank">Image in the Public Domain
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