• Question: if a human didnt eat for 2 whole weeks, and survived and the next day went back to there usual eating routine, e.g breakfast, lunch and dinner what would happen, and how would this impact there body?

    Asked by ava and hibba!! on 21 Jan 2025.
    • Photo: Carly Bingham

      Carly Bingham answered on 21 Jan 2025: last edited 23 Jan 2025 13:53

      The poor person would probably end up with a big tummy ache, feeling very sick and probably not going to the toilet very well either

      When you fast (stop eating) for long periods, our bodies start to change how they are fueled – using up fat and protein instead of carbohydrates. Suddenly changing this back upsets this new balance and upsets the delicate system of chemicals that control our bodies.

      This is a problem for gastroenterology teams looking after people and also for people starting to recover from eating disorders. We monitor levels of electrolytes (chemicals) in people who are malnourished to keep them safe while we help them get back to a normal eating routine, which is done by increasing amounts of food slowly over lots of days.

    • Photo: Giorgia P

      Giorgia P answered on 23 Jan 2025:

      This would cause a lot of stress on the body and would change the metabolism of the person (how the body uses the food as fuel). It would also send signals stress signals in the body that will lower the metabolic rate, and change the way the nutrients are used, such as lowering the heart rate and reducing hormone production, to conserve energy for essential processes.

Comments

  • Photo: Andrew M

    Andrew M commented on :

    It’s an interesting syndrome, one that’s been recognised for a long time (famine and seige appear early in literature) but has only been recently understood. Sadly this has led to numerous incidences of “killing by kindness” when the desire to help the starving has led to their deaths (for example soldiers sharing their ration packs with starving civilians).
    Understanding may also have been hindered by the moral dimension. Gluttony was long considered a deadly sin : refeeding sydrome made it literally so. The starving who gorged on an unexpected windfall of food during a siege or at its relief may have been considered to have suffered not a medical problem but divine judgement for their sin, whereas the frugal and restrained survived.
    It puts a break on investigation, gods are generally thought to be a bit tetchy when mortals appear to be questioning their methods and judgement.