any info on people who died from starvation?

[SufferingInDenmark]

do we know how long it takes to die from starvation?
actually, my grandmother kinda did it.
didn't eat for almost a week, bc she wanted to die, we assume.
she didn't say that out loud, but she was in pain.

she died within that month of that one week starvation going on.
assisted by overall bad health.
but the starvation definetely played a big part

 

[Siamese Believe]

It's quicker the less you weigh, but it still will take 3 - 4 weeks if you're skinny or underweight. Bigger people can last longer than 3 - 4 weeks depending on how much mass they have.

 

[sanctionedusage]

well, the bad health definitely played a big part.

healthy young adults survive on ridiculous intakes. i fasted for bursts of 4-6 days every week plus a 500 calorie intake on eating days as a (bmi 19) 17yo, lost 20lbs in that month, and literally nothing happened. it aggravated some gastritis lol. the only thing that almost killed me was taking 800ish mg of caffeine in vivarin pills at the same time— 100000% do not recommend, most painful experience of my life

if you're in even better condition than an anorexic, then you could go up to 14 days water fasting and have absolutely nothing happen to you besides passing out or having hypoglycemic episodes and digestive troubles. maybe an electrolyte imbalance would kill you, and that'd be just as painful and slow as the caffeine thing.

 

[BradGuy123]

I think dying from starvation would be slow and miserable

 

[martyrdom]

Starvation is very complex. The reasons for death can be multiple depending on pre-existing health conditions and if you're eating very little, not at all, drinking water, etc. Heart failure, brain death, liver failure, kidney failure, all that type of stuff can be a cause of death attributed to starvation. The kind of fast you do will affect how you die and how long it takes to die. Long-term malnutrition will also cause several long-term health problems that can come up several years later in life, this is often seen in anorexics and people who go on hunger strikes. So even if you do it for a brief amount of time and then resume eating, there's a good chance you've damaged your body and that damage will come up in your 30s-40s.