Talk:Famine response
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[edit] resources for continuing this article
Lantoka 08:29, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
This is missing quite a bit of information. However, I as a pre-med student do not feel qualified to edit it. ChaosEmerald
[edit] 40-50 days?
"Thus, after about 40 to 50 days of starvation, the loss of body protein affects the function of important organs, and death results, even if there are still fat reserves left unused. (In a leaner person, the fat reserves are depleted earlier, the protein depletion occurs sooner, and therefore death occurs sooner.)"
I've been fasting since June 25, or 36 days, and feel fine. It's hard to imagine I've only got 4-14 days to live! (I'm 5' 7" and weighed about 170 pounds when I started. About a week ago, I weighed 140, and I suspect I weigh about 135 now. Since I started, I've taken only water, salt, three or four multivitamin tablets, and a few non-caloric foods, such as curry powder, tea, coffee, diet sodas, raw garlic, mustard, etc. -- except for four "indiscretions": two small cans of kippered herring, two cans of ravioli during the second week, and occasionally small amounts of non-dairy creamer in my tea and coffee.) So far, my health has improved greatly. I've gotten over a ten-year case of chronic dermatitis, various digestive problems have gone away, and mentally, I feel content, calm, and clear-headed. I realize that my experience is anecdotal, but 40-50 days still seems rather brief to me. I remember reading somewhere that people have gone for six months without food. D021317c 10:08, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] mitochondria
The consumption of ketone bodies by the brain relieves some of the glucose requirement but does not abolish it altogether. The brain retains some need for glucose, because ketone bodies can be broken down for energy only in the mitochondria, and mitochondria are often too big to travel down the long thin processes of neurons to reach the synapses.
Mitochondria moving within the cell to provide fuel? Sounds pretty bogus to me.
[edit] Original research
This entire article reeks of original research. Not a single citation, but very specific claims about human metabolism. FironDraak (talk) 10:13, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
