Features of a successful therapeutic fast of 382 days’ duration.
Open accessAbstract
Summary: A 27-year-old male patient fasted under supervision for 382 days and has subsequently maintained his normal weight. Blood glucose concentrations around 30 mg/100 ml were recorded consistently during the last 8 months, although the patient was ambulant and attending as an out-patient. Responses to glucose and tolbutamide tolerance tests remained normal. The hyperglycaemic response to glucagon was reduced and latterly absent, but promptly returned to normal during carbohydrate refeeding. After an initial decrease was corrected, plasma potassium levels remained normal without supplementation. A temporary period of hypercalcaemia occurred towards the end of the fast. Decreased plasma magnesium concentrations were a consistent feature from the first month onwards. After 100 days of fasting there was a marked and persistent increase in the excretion of urinary cations and inorganic phosphate, which until then had been minimal. These increases may be due to dissolution of excessive soft tissue and skeletal mass. Prolonged fasting in this patient had no ill-effects.
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During the 382-day starvation, assuming all weight loss was fat with an energy content of 7,700 kcal/kg, the total weight loss equates to approximately 1,000,000 kcal, an average of approximately 2,500 kcal/day.
“Assuming (although fictive, as fat loss only is unrealistic in such a long fast) that all this weight loss was related to fat, with an energy content of 7,700 kcal/kg, this equates to ∼1,000,000 kcal, i.e., an average of ∼2,500 kcal/day during the 382 days of fasting (Stewart and Fleming, 1973).”
From Effect of Exercise Training on Fat Loss—Energetic Perspectives and the Role of Improved Adipose Tissue Function and Body Fat Distribution (2021) · cites this paper as Stewart and Fleming, 1973
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- Authors
- Stewart, W. K., & Fleming, L. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Dundee (GB)
- Venue
- Postgraduate Medical Journal
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1973-03-01
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 569
- Pages
- 203-209
- ISSN
- 0032-5473 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-0756
- PMC
- PMC2495396
- OpenAlex
- W1992414564
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Postgraduate Medical Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Dietary Effects on Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
- Keywords
- fasting therapy, prolonged fasting, blood glucose, glucagon response, glucose tolerance, carbohydrate refeeding, hypercalcemia, hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, weight maintenance
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Blood Glucose, Body Weight, Chlorine, Electrolytes, Fasting, Glucose Tolerance Test, Humans, Male, Obesity, Potassium, Sodium, Vitamins
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