Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsTimelineInfluencing FactorsComplications
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Timeline
Influencing Factors
Complications
As long as you have access to water, experts believe you can live up to two months without food.
The timeframe for survival without food is not exact, however. Aside from a lack of robust scientific data on the matter, every person is different. Personal factors like your starting body weight play a role.
This article discusses the question of how long you can go without food. It also discusses some of the complications that can happen when you don’t eat.
How Long You Can Go Without Food
Your body is very resourceful. When you go without food, your body can obtain energy and fuel from its own fat. If needed, it can also use muscle stores.
The following timeline of what happens to your body when you go without food is not exact, but it can give you an idea of what may happen and when.
Fasting or deliberately going without food for short periods of time can be a healthy way to lose weight or manage certain medical conditions. However, it should only be done for hours, not days. Before you begin fasting, make sure to ask your healthcare provider if it’s safe for you.
After 1 Day
Your body normally usesglucose, or sugar, as its main source of energy. When you don’t eat, your glucose reserves are used up within one day.
After one day without food, your body releases a hormone calledglucagon. This hormone tells your liver to make glucose. This glucose is used mostly to feed your brain.
After 2 or 3 Days
After two or three days without food, your body starts to break downfatty tissue. Your muscles use the fatty acids created during this process as their main source of fuel.
Fatty acids are also used to formketonesin the liver. Ketones are another substance the body can use for energy. These are released into the bloodstream. When the brain uses them for fuel, it doesn’t need as much glucose.
Humans can survive without food because the liver can shift to ketone production.
After 7 Days
When the fatty acid reserves are gone, the body switches to protein. Depending on how little fatty tissue you had, it may take only a few days to reach this point. By one week, however, the bodies of most starving people will be actively breaking down muscle in order to obtain protein.
After 14 Days
As the breakdown of muscle speeds up, the body begins to lose heart, kidney, and liver function. This is what may ultimately lead to death.
Because a starving body lacks the resources to stay healthy, infection is another possible cause of death.
What Influences Survival Without Food
Sex, age, starting weight, and water consumption can all play into how long someone can go without food.
Is Water Fasting Good for You? Benefits and Dangers
Complications of Going Without Food
Verywell / Laura Porter
Unless eating is resumed, starvation always leads to death. Before death, certain complications may occur. The number of body systems affected increases as weight loss increases.
Some of these complications include:
Summary
How long human beings can go without food is an open question. Estimates indicate that starving people become weak in 30 to 50 days and die in 43 to 70 days.Individual factors including sex, age, starting weight, and water intake all play a role in how long someone can live without food.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Elliot B, Mina M, Ferrier C.Complete and voluntary starvation of 50 days.Clin Med Insights Case Rep. 2016;9:67-70. doi:10.4137/CCRep.S39776Johns Hopkins Medicine.Intermittent fasting: What is it, and how does it work?Steinhauser ML, Olenchock BA, O’Keefe J, et al.The circulating metabolome of human starvation.JCI Insight. 2018;3(16):e121434. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.121434Zarulli V, Barthold Jones JA, Oksuzyab A, Lindahl-Jacobsen R, Christensen K, Vaupel JW.Women live longer than men even during severe famines and epidemics.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018;115(4):E832-E840. doi:10.1073/pnas.1701535115Yaussy SL, DeWitte SN.Patterns of frailty in non-adults from medieval London.Int J Paleopathol. 2018;22:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.03.008Mehler P.Anorexia nervosa in adults and adolescents: Medical complications and their management.Additional ReadingQuill T, Ganzini L, Truog R, Pope T.Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking among patients with serious advanced illness—clinical, ethical, and legal aspects.JAMA Intern Med. 178(1):123-127. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.6307
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Elliot B, Mina M, Ferrier C.Complete and voluntary starvation of 50 days.Clin Med Insights Case Rep. 2016;9:67-70. doi:10.4137/CCRep.S39776Johns Hopkins Medicine.Intermittent fasting: What is it, and how does it work?Steinhauser ML, Olenchock BA, O’Keefe J, et al.The circulating metabolome of human starvation.JCI Insight. 2018;3(16):e121434. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.121434Zarulli V, Barthold Jones JA, Oksuzyab A, Lindahl-Jacobsen R, Christensen K, Vaupel JW.Women live longer than men even during severe famines and epidemics.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018;115(4):E832-E840. doi:10.1073/pnas.1701535115Yaussy SL, DeWitte SN.Patterns of frailty in non-adults from medieval London.Int J Paleopathol. 2018;22:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.03.008Mehler P.Anorexia nervosa in adults and adolescents: Medical complications and their management.Additional ReadingQuill T, Ganzini L, Truog R, Pope T.Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking among patients with serious advanced illness—clinical, ethical, and legal aspects.JAMA Intern Med. 178(1):123-127. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.6307
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Elliot B, Mina M, Ferrier C.Complete and voluntary starvation of 50 days.Clin Med Insights Case Rep. 2016;9:67-70. doi:10.4137/CCRep.S39776Johns Hopkins Medicine.Intermittent fasting: What is it, and how does it work?Steinhauser ML, Olenchock BA, O’Keefe J, et al.The circulating metabolome of human starvation.JCI Insight. 2018;3(16):e121434. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.121434Zarulli V, Barthold Jones JA, Oksuzyab A, Lindahl-Jacobsen R, Christensen K, Vaupel JW.Women live longer than men even during severe famines and epidemics.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018;115(4):E832-E840. doi:10.1073/pnas.1701535115Yaussy SL, DeWitte SN.Patterns of frailty in non-adults from medieval London.Int J Paleopathol. 2018;22:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.03.008Mehler P.Anorexia nervosa in adults and adolescents: Medical complications and their management.
Elliot B, Mina M, Ferrier C.Complete and voluntary starvation of 50 days.Clin Med Insights Case Rep. 2016;9:67-70. doi:10.4137/CCRep.S39776
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Intermittent fasting: What is it, and how does it work?
Steinhauser ML, Olenchock BA, O’Keefe J, et al.The circulating metabolome of human starvation.JCI Insight. 2018;3(16):e121434. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.121434
Zarulli V, Barthold Jones JA, Oksuzyab A, Lindahl-Jacobsen R, Christensen K, Vaupel JW.Women live longer than men even during severe famines and epidemics.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018;115(4):E832-E840. doi:10.1073/pnas.1701535115
Yaussy SL, DeWitte SN.Patterns of frailty in non-adults from medieval London.Int J Paleopathol. 2018;22:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.03.008
Mehler P.Anorexia nervosa in adults and adolescents: Medical complications and their management.
Quill T, Ganzini L, Truog R, Pope T.Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking among patients with serious advanced illness—clinical, ethical, and legal aspects.JAMA Intern Med. 178(1):123-127. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.6307
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