Repost from 2016
I just received this article on my Facebook feed. I decided to share it with you. The original article is in Norwegian.
Warning: It contains very strong material.
To spice up the text, I’ve added some links about cannibalism with fictional images from my movie "CANNIBAL FOG", I made in 2014.
SPOILER ALERT!
Cannibal Fog (2014) is a Swedish horror film that plunges into the taboo world of self-cannibalism and the consumption of "long pig" (human flesh). The story follows Michael, a man trapped in a monotonous life of excess, who discovers a disturbing new craving: human flesh. As he delves deeper into this macabre obsession, he is drawn into a clandestine society where cannibalism is ritualized, and the boundaries of morality dissolve into a psychological haze—the "Cannibal Fog."
The film explores themes of obsession, identity, and the extremes of human desire, blending body horror with surreal, experimental storytelling. It’s not just about the act of eating flesh, but the mental and emotional unraveling that follows. The "Cannibal Fog" itself is a metaphor for the loss of self and moral compass, as characters descend into a detached, almost hallucinatory state after consuming human meat.
With its raw, unpolished style and provocative subject matter, Cannibal Fog stands out as a daring and unsettling exploration of taboo, pushing audiences to confront the darkest corners of human nature and the blurred line between pleasure and horror.
This was just a side dish — let’s get back to the article written by Sedsel Brøndum Lange.
Do you dare read any further?
Published: January 25, 2016, 04:00
Writer: Sedsel Brøndum Lange
How long can you survive by eating yourself?
Imagine that the only way to survive is to eat yourself. How long could you survive, and which body parts could you eat without dying?
Jerk W. Langer, a doctor, lecturer, and teacher at the University of Copenhagen, has taken on the challenge of calculating an answer.
Cynical Calculations
It is possible to survive for about 40 days by living solely on the body’s reserves—completely without food. However, it might be possible to extend your life further by eating your own muscles, explains Langer.
—According to cold, cynical calculations, you can actually survive for quite a long time, he says.
The calculations are based on an 80-kilogram man.
Theoretically, he could eat his own legs and arms—or, if he is completely alone and must use one arm to eat and amputate his other limbs, his legs and one arm.
You can’t, for obvious reasons, look up "human flesh" in a standard calorie table. Therefore, Langer has chosen to use the calorie count for pork shoulder with rind, which consists primarily of muscle and some fat and skin. This gives 85,900 calories in two arms and two legs, and 75,000 calories in one arm and two legs.
—So, let’s look at how few calories you can survive on.
We’re dealing with a starving person who doesn’t move much. And during the experiment, he moves even less when his legs are gone. So, I assume he can survive on 1,000 calories a day. Of course, he will waste away and consume the rest of his body’s reserves, but we’re talking about pure survival, says Langer.
With 1,000 calories a day, the calculations show that, on average, you could survive for 86 days by eating two arms and two legs, and 75 days by eating two legs and one arm. In addition, there are the 40 days you could survive without eating at all.
Difficult in Practice
However, a lot can go wrong if you are suddenly forced to amputate your own limbs. Langer assumes that, in this hypothetical experiment, you could amputate an arm or leg safely to avoid bleeding to death or getting infections.
Additionally, you must store the "food" properly so the meat doesn’t spoil.
Many other factors could also come into play.
—There may be other things that cause you to die earlier. You’d probably be quite stressed about eating yourself. You might also not be able to stomach it. And then there could be problems with wounds and infections and all sorts of things, so this is just theoretical survival, explains Langer.
Arms and Legs Are Not Vital
When eating yourself, it’s a bit of a balancing act to keep yourself alive. You have to eat enough to survive, but not so much that you die from it.
So, theoretically, are there parts that are better to eat than others?
—If you have a good layer of fat, you might be able to eat a bit of your stomach, but you can’t eat the internal organs. You can live without one kidney and 75 percent of your liver, but in practice, it wouldn’t be possible to remove the organs yourself, says Langer.
For this reason, he focuses on arms and legs in his calculations, even though fat contains the most energy.
—There isn’t much fat tissue on the arms and legs, but on the other hand, arms and legs are not vital. You can live without them, unlike the internal organs, says Langer.
Unethical Research
There aren’t many people who have chosen to live off their own flesh and blood. However, there are examples of people who have eaten parts of themselves. Last year, several media outlets reported on a Norwegian artist who, after hip surgery, prepared and ate his own hip.
In 2002, it was big news that the German cannibal Armin Meiwes had consumed another man—who had voluntarily participated in preparing and eating his own penis before being completely slaughtered.
When someone voluntarily eats parts of themselves, it’s called autosarcophagy or self-cannibalism.
Although it’s a very rare practice, there are several scientific case studies on it. A classic example comes from the book Psychopathia Sexualis from 1886, which includes a study of a man who was believed to be sexually aroused by the idea of eating himself. He talked about cutting flesh from women he was attracted to instead of having sex with them, but he always ended up cutting off a piece of his own skin and eating it instead.
There is no research on how the body reacts to being eaten by itself. Jerk W. Langer has an explanation for this.
—It’s a field of research that would naturally be considered unethical. What happens mentally or physically in that situation is unknown, says Langer.
© Videnskab.dk. Translated by Lars Nygaard for forskning.no.
Fact Box
Calculation of how long you can survive by eating yourself
Assumption: Safe amputation. The meat is stored properly and kept cool. The calculations are based on an 80-kilogram man.
Energy in pork shoulder with rind: 2,400 kcal/kg. It is assumed that a starving person with no physical activity can survive on 1,000 kcal/day, as the body also consumes its own reserves.
Two legs and two arms weigh a total of 35.8 kg and contain 85,900 kcal. Eating two legs and two arms would allow you to live for almost 86 days.
Two legs and one arm weigh 31.3 kg and contain 75,000 kcal. Eating two legs and one arm would allow you to live for about 75 days.
If you want to know more, listen to their podcast:
Links to how we became cannibals
Can you get allergic shocks from eating flesh and more?
Check out forskning.no
Other links to self-eating:
Armin Meiwes (lost tapes) Warning: strong content
Dinner for one!
Back to the story of Cannibal Fog
When I did this horror movie Cannibal Fog (2014) the topic was about eating yourself and eating "long pig". The film clearly delves into one of the most taboo and unsettling themes in horror—the idea of self-cannibalism and "long pig" (a euphemism for human flesh). The scientific exploration of digesting oneself, while grotesque and ethically unimaginable, serves as a fascinating (if disturbing) thought experiment. It forces audiences to confront the extremes of survival, bodily autonomy, and the psychological horror of consuming one's own flesh. - Jonas Wolcher
Final words
This is not intended to be practical but it's about the science of digesting yourself. It's unethical and very gross.
