Thursday, 12 July 2012

What are the effects of fasting on human health


What are the effects of fasting on human health?
Body, brain and nerve tissue depend on glucose for metabolism
  • Hunger strike or food fast in the first 3 days is physiological in nature and almost always does not cause harm or pathology on body and mind because the body is still using energy from reserve glucose of body. However, the feeling of hunger/hunger pain remains.
  • By the fourth day of the fast, feelings of hunger disappear altogether and hunger pains turn to severe gastric irritation. The body’s resources are used up and the liver starts processing body fat in a process called ketosis, transformation to an alternative form of energy, to produce ketone bodies.
  • These ketone bodies (acetoactate, hydroxybutyrate and acetone) along with starvation begin to cause permanent and irreversible vital organ damage of the fasting person. The fast must be broken on the fifth day to avoid permanent damage to health.
  • After a week, the body enters a starvation mode and the body "mines" the muscles and vital organs for energy, and loss of bone marrow becomes life–threatening and cause fatality.
  • Brain and nerve tissue depend on glucose for metabolism. Even though the transformation to an alternative form of energy has occurred, some parts of the brain exclusively need glucose, and protein is still needed to produce it. If body protein loss continues, death will ensue.

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