Table 1: American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) recommended minimum fasting guidelines for elective surgery. Note that these fasting intervals may not be possible in some emergency situations, in which case a “rapid sequence induction” is often carried out to reduce the risk of pulmonary aspiration. This table is based on the following publications: Practice Guidelines for Preoperative Fasting and the Use of Pharmacologic Agents to Reduce the Risk of Pulmonary Aspiration: Application to Healthy Patients Undergoing Elective Procedures: An Updated Report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Preoperative Fasting and the Use of Pharmacologic Agents to Reduce the Risk of Pulmonary Aspiration. Anesthesiology. 2017 Mar;126(3):376-393. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000001452. PubMed PMID:28045707.

Type of Meal	Minimum Fasting Interval
Clear fluids (e.g., water, apple juice, hot black tea, oral medications with a sip of water)	2 hours
Human breast milk	4 hours
Infant formula	6 hours
Non-human milk (e.g., cow’s milk)	6 hours
Light meal (e.g., tea and toast, broth, apple sauce)	6 hours
Meals rich in fatty or fried components (e.g., cheese burger with fries and onion rings)	8 hours