Hunger

Hunger is applied literally to the need or craving for food; it can also be applied metaphorically to cravings of other sorts. It is an extreme of a normal appetite.

Hunger as a condition

The term hungry is commonly used simply to mean having an appetite or to be ready for a meal. After a long period without food, the mild sensation of hunger associated with being ready for a meal becomes a progressively more severe sensation, until it becomes acutely painful. Prolonged hunger will drive people to eat substances with no nutritional value, such as grass and soil, simply to fill their stomachs (which has an adverse effect on energy balance as energy is still required to digest these substances). Lack of particular nutrients leads to particular medical types of malnutrition. Kwashiorkor and marasmus are prime examples. Eventually, after protracted malnourishment, death will occur through starvation.

Related Topics:
Appetite - Meal - Pain - Kwashiorkor - Marasmus - Death - Starvation

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Sometimes hunger is defined as the condition in which an organism can only use its protein tissue (e.g. muscles) as the source of energy, a condition which sets in after all sugars and fats etc. are used up.

Related Topics:
Organism - Protein - Energy - Sugars - Fats

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In contrast to hunger, which is involuntary, fasting is the practice of voluntarily not eating for a period of time. A hunger strike is fasting for the purpose of nonviolent resistance.

Related Topics:
Fasting - Hunger strike - Nonviolent resistance

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