During Biochemistry lecture today, my professor displayed this figure depicting the body's biochemical response whenever an organism is undergoing starvation. As shown, there are five main phases which occur over a forty day period before expiration. Whenever the body intakes glucose, the exogenous supply is depleted after four hours. After two days, the body isn't able to pull glucose from glycogen anymore, therefore gluconeogenesis begins. As the body enters starvation, the body begins to shut down to maintain heart and brain function. Interestingly enough, the Atkins diet places patients in stage four.
Reference:
Dr. James Knopp
Lecture 11/18/2011
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