What happens if you don’t eat for 3 days?
What happens if you don’t eat for 3 days? It’s quite difficult to predict, but nothing critical.
What will happen to the body if you don’t eat for 3 days
To prevent us from immediately dying without food, the body is able to store a certain amount of different substrates from which energy can be obtained.
First, the body will start using up glycogen, which is stored in the muscles and liver. When it breaks down, it will produce glucose, which will feed the body for some time.
When glycogen runs out, fat will come into play. Around day 2-3, the body will begin to break it down to produce ketone bodies from the released fatty acids. Like glucose, they can be a source of energy for the body.
Since both glycogen and fat are needed as reserve nutrition, their destruction does not harm us. Therefore, most likely, nothing will happen to a healthy adult organism in three days. Problems usually begin later .
What will happen to your health if you don’t eat for 3 days
It is difficult to guess in advance. Someone will complain of lethargy, headache and irritability. This is how the brain reacts to starvation . Moreover, the symptoms may appear not in 3 days, but much earlier.
Some people, on the contrary, will experience a surge of energy and euphoria. Because some ketone bodies are isomers (that is, substances with the same composition and number of atoms, but a slightly different structure) of hydroxybutyrate, a banned narcotic substance from the euphoric group. But even if this theory is not true, ketosis still changes the balance of mediators that regulate neural transmission in the brain. This helps with depression and some other disorders.
In any case, it is better to discuss with a doctor in advance whether a particular person can fast.
Who definitely shouldn’t fast
Some people can’t fast for even a day. It’s hard to say at what point they’ll start having problems (because no one has done such experiments), but it’s definitely dangerous :
- for children, because their bodies spend a lot of energy on growth;
- people with carbohydrate metabolism disorders, such as diabetes ;
- people with sickle cell anemia because they have higher protein needs;
- people with gastrointestinal diseases because they may not have the necessary supply of nutrients and therefore symptoms will appear earlier.