Tag: Starvation science

During the first 24 hours of fasting, the human body primarily depletes its glycogen reserves for energy. This is just the initial stage of what is the science behind starvation, a complex and phased metabolic adaptation designed to preserve life in the face of food deprivation.

In 1965, a Scottish man named Angus Barbieri, weighing 456 pounds, began a medically supervised fast that would ultimately set the world record for what is the longest anybody has gone without food, lasting an astonishing 382 days. This remarkable case offers a rare glimpse into the human body's physiological adaptations to prolonged nutrient deprivation, though it was an extreme and dangerous undertaking.