The Risks of Fasting In The Elderly or Children

Elderly

There is a natural decline in organ function as people age that makes elderly individuals more susceptible to the effects of even subtle fluctuations in body chemistry. For instance, the elderly have a natural decline in their ability to maintain adequate hydration. This is because their body has less water to begin with but there is also a natural decline in the sensitivity of the thirst center in their brain.

During a fast, fluid levels in your body are being altered due to lack of sodium intake. The elderly run not only a risk of becoming volume depleted (dehydrated), but of subsequently becoming dizzy and falling, passing out, and/or injuring themselves. There are approximately 1,000,000 hospital admissions each year where hydration was cited as a reason for admission. The geriatric population should refrain from fasting without supervision by a health care provider.

Fasting may also alter the absorption and metabolism of certain medications.

Children

While growing, specific metabolic processes occur during childhood and adolescence necessary for proper development, maturation and growth. Simply put, children are naturally in a state of continuous anabolism. Fasting shifts the human body towards catabolic processes and therefore unsupervised fasting may alter or impair the vital processes associated with normal growth and development. Fasting also has the propensity to alter the metabolism of certain medications in children to the extent that even fatal reactions to what were otherwise safe medications have been reported.