Can a person survive on empty calories alone?
For example, suppose you're stranded somewhere with no food, but an infinite supply of, say, high-calorie cola beverages. This will obviously provide for your hydration needs (it's not as good as water, but it isn't 100% diuretic) and it will provide a lot of calories, but no nutrients. So would you still starve to death, or would you survive? I realize eventually you'd get vitamin deficiencies, but would the end result of living only on cola beverages be closer to living on only one type of food, or living on only water?
4 comments:
You certainly can't survive on empty calories indefinitely. If you run out of potassium, for example, I believe your heart and brain will stop functioning altogether, and other deficiencies would also be fatal.
That's so weird, I was actually wondering this the other day.
I could have sworn a read an article on this a couple years ago, but I can't find it, even with Google.
If I recall, the problem would be that, without food, your body would soon start breaking down muscle tissue for nutrients. The process would fry your liver and/or damage your heart, kidneys, immune system, etc., and that is what would kill you, probably in a few weeks or months, depending on how strong and healthy you were at the start.
But, as expected, a lack of water would do you in much faster than lack of food. I did find an article (from Fast Company, a business magazine of all places) with that info--it says you would have three days, max. Yikes:
In a survival situation, your major needs are food, water, and shelter, unless you're seriously injured, in which case medical care comes first. While the priorities vary -- depending on whether you're in the jungle, at sea, in the arctic, or in the desert -- water often comes first for the simple reason that you can live without food far longer than you can live without water. You have three days, max. As you lose fluids, you must replace them, or your body breaks down. Fast. After depleting just 2% of your body fluids, you experience extreme thirst. By a 5% loss, you become weak and nauseous. By 10%, you've got a massive headache and tingling in your limbs. You're too dizzy to stand. Your blood, starved for water, can't deliver the oxygen and nutrients that your body requires to function properly. You're disoriented. By the time you've lost 15%, you're on death's doorstep. Partially blind. Numb. Deaf.
(click my name for the full link)
Interesting article. I like this bit: "Ask McKay how long he could survive if he walked into the woods right now without supplies, and he doesn't hesitate: "The rest of my life," he says"
Doesn't that rather apply to everyone?
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