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Comment by tristanj | Hacker News Reader

Related: Results of a 382 day voluntary fast https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/ (1973)

This patient's initial weight was 207 kilograms, and over the course of a year he lost 125 kilograms. During this time he only consumed water, yeast, and multivitamins. After ending the fast, he successfully kept the weight off and only regained 7 kilograms over the next 5 years. He received a Guinness World Record for the longest recorded fast.

While a successful example of weight loss, the paper does cite five reports of fatalities occurring during total starvation weight loss treatment. It is probably not the safest way to lose weight.

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Research I did years ago said that when fasting the body starts dumping a lot of toxins. Fasting specialists monitor the urine from a patient and can determine if the fast needs to be slowed or stopped to let the patient recover before fasting again. The source was from a book written by Paul Bragg.

Actually, when fasting, the body holds on to a lot more toxins because it is low on vital resources and the kidneys and liver begin to release hormones to retain minerals and nutrients instead of urinating them out. This is why fasting often results in both kidney and liver damage along with enzyme increases.

>This is why fasting often results in both kidney and liver damage along with enzyme increases.

Any sources?

Have fun reading this one about both distilled water AND fasting:

https://www.ncahf.org/articles/e-i/fasting.html

You posted this same link in another comment. This article does not say distilled water is bad, and only demonstrates that extreme fasting is dangerous, which I agree with.

It is amazing that we have so good knowledge over what the body needs that one can live on just water, yeast and multivitamins for a year. But why the yeast?

It wouldn't have been live yeast - probably powdered brewer's yeast. Rich in B vitamins, trace minerals, protein, dietary fiber. I'm guessing it's to 'fill in the gaps' in the multivitamin regime, which can't be assumed to be complete.

The paper does not say, however I did find a source speculating why:

The reason doctors administered yeast is simple – it was his only source of protein, and without it, the body starts eating its own muscle tissue. Without any form of protein at all, the man would not be able to "direct" his body to consume his vast amounts of body fat as fuel, and would die within weeks.

Just two tablespoons of nutritional yeast[1] provides a person with 60 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrates and 9 grams of protein – including all nine amino acids, which the human body cannot produce on its own.

Seems like nutritional yeast is a convenient source for essential amino acids.

[0] https://coach.nine.com.au/2016/04/06/17/01/the-mystery-behin...

[1] http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323565/2

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