Re: How long can the stomach go without intake of food before damage being done?

Aloha, Lolita,

     From your Australia address, we are 'almost' neighbors...across a 
huge part of the Pacific, however.  I am a Nutrition faculty member at the 
University of Hawai`i at Manoa and have always hoped that I'd have the 
chance to go farther east to New Zealand and Australia, before I leave 
this part of the world.  Maybe next year.
     So, to your question.  The human body (including the gastrointestinal 
tract, which is where the food goes first, via the mouth, AND which is 
actually outside of the body) is quite resilient.  The statement about 
going without food for a long time is correct.  If you have a source of 
fluid and a vitamin/mineral pill, you can actually survive for about 60-70 
days (depends on how much extra fat tissue you have on your body as energy 
stores).
     If you don't have water/fluid, you'll be dead in about 2-3 
days...depends on how well hydrated you were in the first place, the 
environmental temperature, the general state of your health, and a number 
of other factors.  BUT, after a couple of days, that's the end of it, with 
no source of water.
     You are probably way to young to remember, but about 30-40 years ago, 
during a particularly nasty political time in Ireland, some of the young 
freedom fighters who were imprisoned decided to go on hunger strikes to 
protest the situation...took them about 60 days to die eventually of 
starvation, since they did have water and some source of 
vitamins/minerals...they just refused solid food.  They eventually died 
because their body started using the protein that makes up the structure 
of the body (muscles, internal organs, etc.) for fuel, after the fat 
stores on their bodies were gone.
     You might be wondering how the digestive tract (GI,gastrointestinal 
tract) can stand up to this long with no food.  First off, the cells that 
make up the lining of the GI tract are replaced every few days, so there 
is constant 'renewing' of the lining.  With no food coming in, the GI 
tract goes sort of dormant, too.  This is why when a person has been in a 
coma or has had GI surgery (and not eating solid food), the medical 
personnel have to be very careful about starting to refeed the 
person 'real' food via their mouth...so as not to overtax the GI tract.  
Same thing happens in populations of children (or anyone, any age) who 
have been starving...refeeding has to be done carefully and slowly, so as 
to give the GI tract time to 'upregulate' its function and structure...or 
you can wind up killing the very people you might be trying to save.
     Certainly, going without food is not good, long-term, for the whole 
body, as well as for the stomach and other organs of digestion (e.g., 
small and large intestines, pancreas, liver).  Food is THE source of 
nutrients for the body and all the various nutrients help keep the parts 
of the body functioning properly and provide the raw materials for repair, 
as needed...especially protein.  However, short-term, the major issue is 
water and keeping hydrated;  not food.
     I hope this helps answer your question and responds to the comment 
that you were questionning.