One of the most famous historical cases, and certainly one of the most disturbing, is that of French soldier and sideshow performer
The man whose only known name is Tarrare was born near Lyon around 1772 and displayed an abnormally voracious appetite from birth.
A notable exception to this common human trait in history appears to be a mysterious 18th century Frenchman named Tarrare, who not only could never get full, he ate everything he could find, including possibly a baby. Very little is known about Tarrare. This includes if that was even his real name.
Tarrare ([taʁaʁ]; c. 1772 – 1798), sometimes spelled Tarar, was a French showman and soldier noted for his unusual appetite and eating habits. Able to eat vast amounts of meat, he was constantly hungry; his parents could not provide for him and he was turned out of the family home as a teenager.
However, Tarrare's hunger continued to grow, and he would often eat anything he could find to satisfy his insatiable appetite. He would swallow stones, chunks of wood, and even live animals, alarming his fellow soldiers and superiors.
The most disturbing detail of Tarrare's short life is that hospital staff believed that he had eaten a 14-month-old toddler who disappeared during his stay there. He was chased out of the hospital, although he was never formally charged with the murder.
The autopsy of Tarrare's body revealed shocking but unsurprising findings: his stomach filled nearly his entire abdominal cavity, and his liver and gallbladders were also oversized. His gullet was unusually wide. “The entrails were putrefied, confounded together, and immersed in pus…
Girl, 10, is the only person in Australia with rare condition that means she hasn't eaten in SEVEN years... and it took ten years for doctors to diagnose her. Claudia Doughty hasn't eaten or had something to drink in seven years.
Agostino "Angus" Giuseppe A Barbieri (1939 – 7 September 1990) was a Scottish man who fasted for 382 days, from June 1965 to July 1966. He lived on tea, coffee, sparkling water, and vitamins while living at home in Tayport, Scotland, and frequently visiting Maryfield Hospital for medical evaluation.
The body needs the nutrients in food to survive. Without them, it will start to break down its own tissue to use as food. Starvation affects all of the body's systems and processes. It is difficult to determine how long someone can go without food, but experts believe that it is between 1 and 2 months.
Michel Lotito, a French artist, decided early on that a "normal" diet was not enough. Born in Grenoble, France, Lotito became famous for deliberately consuming indigestible objects. He came to be known as Monsieur Mangetout ("Mr.
Lotito's first appearance in our annals came in 1979, where he was recognized for consuming a bicycle in record time (15 days between 17 March – 2 April 1977). A year later, he broke his own record, taking 12 days to eat over 15 lb (6.8 kg) of bicycle.
Monsieur Mangetout eats a plane
He was able to consume the aircraft over a period of two years between 1978-1980. Other notable items he ate throughout his career include: bicycles, shopping carts, beds, chandeliers, television sets, a small section of the Eiffel tower and a coffin.
Estimates indicate that starving people become weak in 30 to 50 days and die in 43 to 70 days. Individual factors including sex, age, starting weight, and water intake all play a role in how long someone can live without food.
Experts believe it is possible for the human body to survive without food for up to two months. It's not the first example of humans subsisting on next to nothing for long periods of time.
Jani was commonly known as Mataji ("[a manifestation of] The Great Mother"). Jani believed that the Goddess provided him with water which dropped down through a hole in his palate, which allowed him to live without food or drink. Since the 1970s, Jani had lived as a hermit in a cave in the forest in Gujarat.
One of the most famous examples was 'The Welsh Fasting Girl', Sarah Jacob, who lived in the 1860s. After falling ill aged nine, Sarah was told to take bed rest. She began to refuse food to keep herself weak and thereby prevent herself from having to take part in back-breaking farm work.
Levi Coleman is a boy who never eats. After suffering years of excruciating stomach pain because it took so long to diagnose a rare bowel disorder, the 4-year-old is so fearful of food, he shuns it completely.
This is the little girl who can never eat a single mouthful of food. Seven-year-old Daisy Palmer has a rare condition which means that she can't even suck so much as a boiled sweet. Instead she is fed with liquids only through a tube straight into her heart in order to survive.
Percy's report described Tarrare as having bloodshot eyes and constantly being overheated and sweating, with a body odor so rancid that he could be smelled from twenty feet away—and that's by 18th-century French military surgeon standards.
By the time that he was 17 years old, he could consume his entire body weight in food in a single day. Tarrare might have been suffering from a form of hyperthyroidism – a condition that occurs due to the excessive production of thyroid hormones.
All failed, especially the dieting, as he was discovered fighting stray dogs for food and drinking the blood of other patients in the hospital. Tarrare was finally kicked out of the hospital when a fourteen-month-old child disappeared, as he was suspected of eating them.
The fourth and most likely, explanation is that Tarrare had Polyphagia caused by a severe case of Hyperthyroidism. While there are many causes of Polyphagia, such as stress, diabetes, or a side effect of medication, in Tarrare's case, an overactive thyroid was most likely the cause.
They coincidentally lived in the same century and both served in the French Revolutionary Army. One is a man known as Tarrare, and the other named Charles Domery, and there has been no one quite like them since.
Signs Your Baby is Hungry
Fists moving to mouth. Head turning to look for the breast. Becoming more alert and active. Sucking on hands or lip smacking. Opening and closing mouth.