John T Brosnan, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Canada
Malcom Watford, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Published online: May 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000642
Animals, including humans, invoke a comprehensive programme of hormonal and metabolic adaptations that enable them to withstand prolonged periods of starvation. The main goal of such adaptations is to provide glucose for the brain and fat-derived fuels for most of the other tissues of the body. This is achieved through a well orchestrated pattern of tissue-specific fuel metabolism.
Keywords: glucose; fatty acids; ketones; brain metabolism; insulin; amino acids
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Figure 1. Origin of blood glucose and rates of whole body glucose utilization during the five phases of glucose homeostasis.
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Figure 2. Interorgan fuel metabolism during prolonged starvation.
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Figure 3. Daily urinary nitrogen excretion in a male subject who fasted for 38 days.
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| Further Reading | |
| book Benedict FG (1915) A Study of Prolonged Fasting. Washington: Carnegie Institute. | |
| Cahill GF Jr (1970) Starvation in man. New England Journal of Medicine 282: 668–675. | |
| Cheryl Y and LeMaho Y, (1985) Five months of fasting in king penguin chicks: body mass loss and fuel metabolism. American Journal of Physiology 249: R387–392. | |
| Felig P (1973) Amino acid metabolism in man. Annual Review of Biochemistry 44: 933–955. | |
| Hannaford MC, Leites LA, Josse RG, Goldstein MB and Halperin ML (1982) Protein wasting due to acidosis of prolonged fasting. American Journal of Physiology 243: E251–256. | |
| Harris RA, Bowker-Kinley MM, Huang B and Wu P (2002) Regulation of the activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. Advances in Enzyme Regulation 42: 249–259. | |
| book Keys A, Brozek J, Henschel A, Mickelsen O and Taylor HL (1950) The Biology of Human Starvation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. | |
| book Owen OE (1989) "Starvation". In: de Groot LJ (ed.) Endocrinology, vol. 3, pp. 2282–2293. Philadelphia: WB Saunders. | |
| Owen OE, Felig P, Morgan AP, Wahren J and Cahill GF Jr (1969) Liver and kidney metabolism during prolonged starvation. Journal of Clinical Investigation 48: 574–583. | |
| book Ruderman NB, Aoki TT and Cahill GF Jr (1976) "Gluconeogenesis and its disorders in man". In: Hanson RW and Mehlman MA (eds) Gluconeogenesis: Its Regulation in Mammalian Species, pp. 515–532. New York: John Wiley. | |
| book Winick M (1979) Hunger Disease: Studies by the Jewish Physicians in the Warsaw Ghetto. New York: John Wiley. | |
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