The professor points out that, in general, people need a balanced diet that includes all the essential nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals, and when eating only one type of food, many nutritional deficiencies are caused.
“Whoever eats only bread or mostly bread, gets mostly calories, i.e. energy. On the one hand, it’s good that they didn’t let him eat cucumber or cabbage every day, for example, because he didn’t have the strength to survive. On the other hand, you can’t live on bread alone for a long time because The body requires other important components that the bread contains at a negligible level, such as proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. Therefore, the consequences in such a situation can be weight loss, a lack of all nutrients.” Moreover, she notes that staying in the tunnels causes a lack of vitamin D, which is especially important for the activity of the immune system and bone health.
According to Prof. Raz, the treatment of such a situation is done through gradual feeding – “He needs an organized nutritional plan. The trick is to give the body what it needs, but in a very slow and gradual manner, so as not to cause damage. It is known that eating a large amount after a state of starvation can put the patient at risk and lead to severe symptoms and even death, what is known as Refeeding Syndrome – This is a situation in which severe complications may result from rapid and excessive feeding after starvation. The treatment teams are aware of this today and I’m sure that with an adapted and correct plan they will be able to bring him to a reasonable nutritional status.
Theoretically, how long can the body survive only by eating bread?
“It really depends. If we are talking about young and healthy people – the duration is greater than for adults, and if people arrive in captivity overweight then they also have an advantage because their body uses the fat reserves to survive.”