The biology of human starvation

some new insights

Henry, C. J. K.

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

Correspondence: Professor Jeya Henry, Professor of Human Nutrition, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK

Nutrition Bulletin 26(3):p 205-211, September 2001.

Summary

Body mass index (BMI) has been extensively used to define and classify obesity. This paper proposes the use of BMI to also define the limits of human survival to starvation. Females appear to be able to withstand starvation to much lower values of BMI compared to males. This may be partly due to the the greater amount of adipose tissue in women and the preferential use of fat rather than lean tissue as fuel during starvation. These gender-specific fuel mobilisation patterns during starvation may provide evolutionary advantages to the females.