Dr Rohit Mehra

Shri Anna Hazare has declared that he will fast till the Jan Lokpal Bill becomes a reality, and others have declared that he will go on till his health permits. How long can he go? It depends on a lot of factors. Will and determination play a major part. Political prisoners on hunger strikes and spiritual leaders often go withot food for weeks.Mahatma Gandhi once fasted for three weeks at a stretch in his 70s. People lost in the wild have also survived for long periods without food.

Medically, doctors agree that a healthy person can go up to two months without food provided he takes water. People have gone on longer and have been fine, and others have starved to death in less time. Being in a good physical shape can help you survive longer, and so does having extra body fat. Body stores energy in the form of carbohydrates , fats and proteins. The carbs are the first to be used up when more food stops coming in. The fat is next, which explains why fat people survive longer. Then comes the turn of proteins . When you get to the point that the body is using up proteins, which is basically the body itself, the situation becomes critical and health starts deteriorating.

Here are the different stages of fasting observed in Humans-
1st day - The body tries to maintain sugar supply to the brain.Glycogen in the liver is broken down into simple sugar to provide energy. This lasts for upto a day.
First 2 weeks - The body can keep up the energy supply by breaking lean muscles and amino acids to release energy. However it wants to keep up the protien supply for as long as it can. Hence a process called ketosis occurs in which the body fat is converted into ketones which can be used as energy source. This period can go on longer if the person has excess fat reserves.
3rd week - The body starts burnign up muscles to keep the energy supply. It reduces the metabloic rate to reduce the energy consumption. This is when the vital parameters start showing abnormal activity.
After 3 weeks - Vital parameters get affected, hamemoglobin drops considerably. The person survives by just keeping the basic functions of the body active, till all his muscles are used up.

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