ttps:////»https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd»>
There are records of people who endured up to 200 days without eating, but this time always varies according to height. Without water, however, the resistance is much lower and the state of health becomes quite serious after about 36 hours. Going without food for one to two days usually does not cause problems that can seriously affect the person. This situation does not usually cause more than dizziness and headaches. “Fasting is not indicated for routine use from a medical point of view, but it has been practiced since antiquity as a religious precept for the purification of the spirit”, says endocrinologist Danilo Alvarenga de Carvalho. When done without medical supervision, however, fasting can pose serious health risks, including death. Without food intake, the organism begins to burn its energy reserves, mainly fats. After them, it consumes the proteins that make up the tissues.
Going without food for a long time also causes several metabolic and hormonal changes, with loss of vitamins and mineral salts, changes in blood pressure, fainting and psychological problems. But the lack of water is much more serious. A man of average height contains approximately 40 liters of water in his body, necessary to cool the body. In addition, water transports toxic substances left over from nutrition to be eliminated by the kidneys and intestines. In a healthy person, there is a balance between the amount of liquid ingested and eliminated. The loss of that balance in a few days is enough to kill.