As the lack of minerals and vitamins take hold, diseases like scurvy and pellagra emerge. Children tend to be more vulnerable than adults, quickly showing the signs of wasting and succumbing to infectious diseases, according to the World Food Programme’s Rita Bhatia when she reported on the severe food shortages in North Korea in the 1990s.

Survival without food can depend on a person’s body weight, how many calorific reserves they have in their fat, and other health conditions they may be suffering from. Women tend to be more resilient than men. But in general, most people will die if their body weight falls to half of normal body mass index – which usually occurs after 45-61 days without food.

For those that survive, there can be lasting impacts.

Long term starvation can affect people’s height, leading to stunting in populations who have lived through famine and severe food shortages. Those who were aged between one and three years at the start of the Great Famine in China, which saw up to 30 million people die between 1959-1961, were on average 2.1cm shorter as adults than those who did not grow up during the famine. They also had thinner arms, were 4.4% lighter and on average achieved lower educational attainment. Miscarriages among pregnant women go up, too.

Infants who survived the Ethiopian famine in the mid-1980s were more likely to suffer illness in adulthood, while other studies have shown a long list of health issues, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease are more common in later life among children who live through periods of starvation.

But the impact of starvation goes beyond physical health. During the Great Chinese famine, labour fell by 25%, drastically affecting the country’s economic output. Children who survived the Ethiopian famine earned 3-8% less per year over their lifetime than their contemporaries.

Latest Stories

Could red apples die out?

Taste of Tomorrow

Taste of Tomorrow

Taste of Tomorrow

Food

Medical Myths

What happens when the food runs out?

Worst Case Scenario

Taste of Tomorrow

Health

Food Fictions

Taste of Tomorrow

Food Fictions

Ask a Stupid Question

Around the bbc