Overeating is a common fault in adult life and not uncommon in childhood. With children it is usually an acute condition; with adults, a chronic one. Men and women are tempted to overeat by habits acquired early in life and by the pleasures of the table. When in good health, a moderate excess of food can be digested and comfortably utilized and eliminated, but more than this leads to pathologic states. If the excess of food is small and taken habitually, it may not disturb digestion, but will gradually lead to obesity or to a condition that borders upon grossness. The kidneys are particularly prone to be injured by high living, which means not only eating heartily, but also eating rich and highly seasoned foods. Chronic nephritis is the lesion most commonly produced under these conditions. Arteriosclerosis is also likely to develop.

The eating of excessively large meals is a common cause of indigestion and of gastric dilatation. The liver is also frequently overtaxed and its functions disturbed.

Starvation

Abstinence from food can be persisted in for variable periods of time. If the faster is in a room where an equable and comfortable temperature is maintained, and if he is supplied with all the water that he needs, and is permitted as much rest as he requires, life, and even health, can be maintained for six weeks and more. If, in fasting, much energy is consumed in maintaining body-temperature or in doing work, death will occur in a few days. Under favorable conditions life will be maintained until even the half of the usual weight of the body is lost.

Summary Of Results Of Dietary Studies Of (Nutrients In Food Actually)

University Boat Crews And Other Dietary Studies, Eaten Per Man Per Day)

When food is suddenly withheld, hunger increases until it becomes extreme. This feeling lasts for two or three days, when the desire for food gradually lessens. During the period of hunger there are burning and gnawing in the epigastrium, which are followed by a feeling of weakness and faintness. When food is gradually lessened, the feeling of hunger may not be experienced, or, if experienced, not in an extreme degree. The body loses weight at first because the fat of the adipose tissue is consumed, and later because the muscles waste. The heart grows quick and feeble. The temperature of the body falls so that it is subnormal much, if not all, of the time. Finally, muscular exertion may be impossible. The mind grows dull and listless. Dreams, hallucinations, and insomnia may torment the starving person. The aspect of those who are starving is pitiable in the extreme. We have become familiar with it because of the numerous pictures in illustrated papers of the famine sufferers in India.

After prolonged starvation it is not well to administer food in generous quantities, or any food except what is most digestible, as the organs of digestion have become so weakened that they cannot do much work. At first, small quantities of bland, very digestible food, such as milk, gruel, or albumin water, should be given every half-hour until some improvement is evident. The amount of food may then be gradually increased and a larger variety given.