Human
In general, humans can survive for two to eight weeks without food, depending on stored body fat. Survival without water is usually limited to three or four days. About 36 million humans die every year from causes directly or indirectly related to starvation. Childhood malnutrition is also common and contributes to the global burden of disease. However global food distribution is not even, and obesity among some human populations has increased rapidly, leading to health complications and increased mortality in some developed, and a few developing countries. Worldwide over one billion people are obese, while in the United States 35% of people are obese, leading to this being described as an "obesity epidemic." Obesity is caused by consuming more calories than are expended, so excessive weight gain is usually caused by an energy-dense diet.
Henry S. Tanner (doctor)
Because no one believed his claim that he had fasted for 42 days, in January 1880, Tanner, a practitioner of hygienic medicine, announced that he would repeat his experiment to show that humans can survive without food and would agree to submit himself to be placed “under the care of any medical society” that would provide adequate housing. On June 30, Tanner began his attempt to duplicate his 40-day fast and after the 6th day, the New York Times began a series of articles chronicling his day –to-day progress, each dispatch becoming more ominous in its anticipation that his death by starvation was imminent. As the twelfth night approached, a Times headline announced that “The End [was] Predicted to be at Hand”. But rather than deteriorating, by the twentieth day, Tanner’s condition improved and he “looked and acted better than ever”.