Rabbit starvation, clinically called protein poisoning, is a form of malnutrition caused by a diet deficient in fat and carbohydrates, where almost all calories consumed come from the protein in lean meat, the large amount of protein consumed reaches toxic levels which eventually causes death. The term "rabbit starvation" originates from the fact that rabbit meat is very lean, almost all of the calories in the meat comes from proteins and not fat, therefore if a person ate nothing but rabbit meat they would eventually die of protein poisoning; this was a phenomenon that happened sometimes with early settlers in areas where rabbit was the only plentiful game. The victim in this episode died of something similar to rabbit starvation, but instead of too much protein he consumed too much sugar as his only food was licorice sticks, he died from a mix of high blood sugar and malnutrition as licorice does not contain any essential fats, minerals, proteins or vitamins.