The plasma GIP response to an oral 50 g glucose tolerance test has been compared in eight non-obese human subjects after 12 and 36 h of fasting. Basal plasma GIP and basal plasma insulin concentrations were similar after 12 and 36 h of fasting. Basal blood glucose was lower after 36 h fasting than after 12 h fasting (p less than 0.0125). After 36 h fasting the oral glucose tolerance test… Read More

The effects of dopamine blockade on the endocrine and metabolic response to starvation have been investigated by administration of metoclopramide, 30 mg daily, or placebo to five normal subjects fasted for sixty hours on two occasions. Blood glucose and alanine concentrations fell with starvation and metoclopramide had no further effect. Concentrations of the other gluconeogenic precursors,… Read More

Fasting is known to result in marked decreases in urinary urea nitrogen excretion over a 7-day period. In the present studies, changes in whole body protein breakdown rates and in the circulating levels of a number of hormones involved in protein anabolism and catabolism were systematically studied in nine obese subjects after 12 h and after 7 days of fasting. Whole body… Read More

We have previously reported that caloric deprivation inhibits peripheral T4 metabolism and blunts the TSH response to TRH in euthyroid obese subjects. To determine whether these phenomena also occur in hypothyroid subjects, T4, T3, rT3, and the TSH response to TRH were measured initially and after a 60-h fast in seven hypothyroid patients. Short term fasting caused a 29% decrement in the… Read More

A patient had substantial jaundice following an uncomplicated appendectomy. After recovery, the hyperbilirubinemia recurred following a 24-hour fast. An analysis to determine the effect of fasting on the bilirubin level in hospitalized patients showed an apparent elevation in the serum unconjugated bilirubin level in the fasting state.

The effect of a prolonged 5-day fast on the blood concentrations of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), secretin, human pancreatic polypeptide (hPP), gastrin, and group I pepsinogens (PG I) was studied in 11 healthy subjects. During the fast there was a marked increase in the concentrations of VIP, secretin, and hPP, whereas the rise in the concentrations of gastrin and PG I was less… Read More