• 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:

      The poor person would probably end up with something called ‘refeeding syndrome’

      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 really common problem for gastroenterology teams 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.

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.