Everything about Starvation totally explained
Starvation is a severe reduction in
vitamin,
nutrient, and
energy intake, and is the most extreme form of
malnutrition. In
humans, prolonged starvation (in excess of 1-2 months) causes permanent
organ damage and, eventually, death.
According to the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, more than 25,000 people died of starvation every day in
2003, and as of
2001 to
2003, about 800 million people were chronically undernourished.
Symptoms
Individuals experiencing starvation lose substantial
fat (a.k.a.
adipose) and
muscle mass as the body breaks down these tissues for
energy.
Catabolysis is the process (medical condition) of a body breaking down muscles and other tissues in order to keep vital systems—such as the
nervous system and
heart muscle (
myocardium) —working. Catabolysis won't begin until there are no usable sources of energy coming into the body.
Vitamin deficiency is also a common result of starvation, often resulting in
anemia,
beriberi,
pellagra, and
scurvy. These diseases collectively may cause
diarrhea,
skin rashes,
edema, and
heart failure. Individuals are often
irritable and
lethargic as a result.
Atrophy (wasting away) of the stomach weakens the perception of hunger, since the perception is controlled by the percentage of the stomach that's empty. Victims of starvation are often too weak to sense thirst, and therefore become
dehydrated.
All movements become painful due to atrophy of the muscles, and due to dry, cracked skin caused by severe dehydration. With a weakened body, diseases are commonplace. Fungi, for example, often grows under the
esophagus, making swallowing unbearably painful.
The energy defiency inherent in starvation causes
fatigue and renders the victim more
apathetic over time. Interaction with one's surroundings diminishes as the starving person becomes too weak to move or even eat.
Recovery
Low-volume, high-density food is provided slowly to sufferers of severe
malnutrition, concurrently with water and control of diseases. The atrophic stomach is unable to accept large quantities of food. Organs and tissues weakened by starvation may, in a manner similar to that of a
heart attack, rupture if food is provided too quickly. This can potentially cause death.
Biochemistry of starvation
The
glycogen storage is used up and the level of
insulin in the circulation is low and the level of
glucagon is very high. The main means of energy production is
lipolysis. The
TCA cycle helps the gluconeogenesis convert
immured, or starved to death.
In ancient Greco-Roman societies, starvation was sometimes used to dispose of guilty upper class citizens, especially erring female members of patrician families. For instance, in the year
31,
Livilla, the niece and daughter-in-law of
Tiberius, was discreetly starved to death by her mother for her adulterous relationship with
Sejanus and for her complicity in the murder of her own husband,
Drusus the Younger.
Another daughter-in-law of Tiberius, named
Agrippina the Elder (a granddaughter of
Augustus and the mother of
Caligula) also died of starvation, in
33 (however, it isn't clear if she voluntary starved herself to death or if she was forced to).
A son and a daughter of Agrippina were also executed by starvation for political reasons;
Drusus Caesar, her second son, was put in prison in 33 and starved to death on the orders of Tiberius (he managed to stay alive for nine days by chewing the stuffing of his bed); Agrippina's youngest daughter, called
Julia Livilla, was exiled on an island in
41 by her uncle, the emperor
Claudius, and not much later, her death by starvation was arranged by the empress
Messalina.
Execution by starvation was also a possible punishment for
Vestal Virgins found guilty of breaking their vows.
Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar, offered his life to save another inmate sentenced to death in the
Auschwitz concentration camp. He was starved along with another nine inmates. After two weeks of starvation he and three other inmates were still alive and executed with injections of
phenol.
Ugolino della Gherardesca, his sons and other members of his family were immured in the
Muda, a tower of
Pisa, and starved to death in the
thirteenth century.
Dante, his contemporary, wrote about Gherardesca in his masterpiece
The Divine Comedy.
In
Sweden in
1317, the king
Birger of Sweden had his two brothers locked up in the prison. They died a few weeks later because of starvation; their sentence was a punishment for a coup they staged several years earlier. This was called the
Nyköping Banquet.
In
Cornwall in
1671, there's a recorded case of a man by the name of
John Trehenban from
St Columb Major who was condemned to be starved to death in a cage at
Castle An Dinas for the murder of two girls.
Treatment
Severe starving patients may be treated, but they must be treated cautiously or shock may happen. Patients should be started on small quantities of sugared water, followed by diluted milk, and then whole milk.
Only when they're able to digest these liquids, then simple foods may be given.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Starvation'.
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