Some biochemical aspects of therapeutic starvation in obese patient.

To achieve the bodyweight reduction, a lot of therapeutics have been tried, among which the most common are hypocaloric diet programmes. One among these is the total starvation programme by which a weight loss of 10-15% is being achieved in a relatively short period of time. In the above study, some important biochemical values were monitored in 79 voluntrees during a three-week period of therapeutic starvation. The fourth day of starvation, a significant decrease in glucose was noticed, but, thereafter, it stabilized at that level. The seventh day of starvation, urea values showed tendency to depletion and total cholesterol and triglyceride values after therapy were lowered. Concentrations of major electrolytes remained within the reference range.