A 39-year-old vegan influencer named Zhanna Samsonova has died reportedly of starvation after years of subsisting entirely on a raw vegan diet. According to New York Post, the Russian national on her social media accounts often promoted raw foods.
According to local media outlet reports, the woman, who went by Zhanna D'Art online, reportedly died on July 21 after finally seeking medical treatment during a tour in Southeast Asia.
Ms Samsonova was following an all-raw vegan diet for at least a decade, according to her Instagram post.
"A few months ago, in Sri Lanka, she already looked exhausted, with swollen legs oozing lymph," one friend told Newsflash. "They sent her home to seek treatment. However, she ran away again. When I saw her in Phuket, I was horrified."
Her friend added, "I lived one floor above her and every day I feared finding her lifeless body in the morning. I convinced her to seek treatment, but she didn't make it."
Ms Samsonova's mother said that her daughter died of a "cholera-like infection." However, the official cause of death was not revealed. Her mother told Vechernyaya Kazan that she believed that Ms Samsonova had succumbed to exhaustion and the stress placed on her body by an all-vegan diet.
According to New York Post, a close friend said that for the last seven years, the influencer had only eaten the giant, sweet jackfruit and durian, a spiky, mace-like fruit known for its custardy meat and noxious odour.
"I see my body and mind transform every day," Samsonova had gushed while describing her restrictive eating regimen. "I love my new me, and never move on to the habits that I used to use."
Ms Samsonova used her social media accounts to spread her raw diet doctrine.
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