After several weeks of starvation, fat stores become depleted, and all that is left for energy is proteins. At this point essential proteins for survival, like antibodies used to fight infection or muscle proteins used for strength, are now being used to make glucose.

經過幾周的飢餓，脂肪的庫存開始被消耗而最後剩下的能量只剩蛋白質，到了這時候，生存必須的蛋白質，像是打擊感染用的抗體，或者有力量的肌肉蛋白質，都被用來製作葡萄糖。