Introduction

In 1974 an influential paper was published to crying physician-induced malnutrition as the skeleton in the hospital closet. 22 randomized controlled trials involving thousands of malnourished patients found that sure you can plump them up, but there seemed to be little effect on clinical outcomes. In fact, sometimes they can actually make things worse. Maybe your body is losing your appetite on purpose. Ever since Hippocrates fasting has been offered as a treatment for acute end chronic diseases based on the observation then when people get sick they frequently lose their appetite. So maybe that's part of our body's wisdom and we shouldn't force it.