The Safety Limits of An Extended Fast: Lessons from a Non-Model Organism

Abstract

While safety of fasting therapy is debated in humans, extended fasting occurs routinely and safely in wild animals. To do so, food deprived animals like breeding penguins anticipate the critical limit of fasting by resuming feeding. To date, however, no molecular indices of the physiological state that links spontaneous refeeding behaviour with fasting limits had been identified. Blood proteomics and physiological data reveal here that fasting-induced body protein depletion is not unsafe "per se". Indeed, incubating penguins only abandon their chick/egg to refeed when this state is associated with metabolic defects in glucose homeostasis/fatty acid utilization, insulin production and action, and possible renal dysfunctions. Our data illustrate how the field investigation of "exotic" models can be a unique source of information, with possible biomedical interest.