Vegan influencer reportedly died of starvation after living on fruit diet

Vegan blogger Zhanna Samsonova, a 39-year-old self-described food stylist and raw plant-based chef whose videos on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram have received tens of millions of views, has allegedly died of starvation.

The Russian influencer, who went by Zhanna D'Art online, died on July 21 in Malaysia, where she had been living, reported the Evening Kazan.

The New York Post indicated that she had subsisted exclusively on a diet of exotic fruit.

One friend explained that for the past seven years, Samsonova only consumed jackfruit and durian, a meaty fruit that comes in hundreds of different varieties in Malaysia.

One of Samsonova's friends reportedly told Newsflash, "A few months ago, in Sri Lanka, she already looked exhausted, with swollen legs oozing lymph. ... They sent her home to seek treatment. However, she ran away again. When I saw her in Phuket, I was horrified."

The influencer's friend recalled living one floor above her and every day fearing "finding her lifeless body in the morning. I convinced her to seek treatment, but she didn't make it."

Vera Samsonova, the decedent's mother, told reporters that she suspects her daughter's vegan diet had exhausted her body, leaving it susceptible to a "cholera-like infection."

"Zhanna's idle stagnation was causing her to melt before our eyes, but she believed everything was fine," her mother speculated. "Only her eyes, merry eyes, and gorgeous hair compensated for the dreadful sight of a body tortured by idiocy. Forgive me if it sounds harsh."

Samsonova long promoted her diet and lifestyle online, suggesting last year that though leaves and vegetable matter "will be easy to acquire, most will not offer much in terms of calories and satisfaction. When it comes to meat from any animals, while this source may offer a high amount of calories, it will not offer much satisfaction when raw and unflavored, and it is the hardest and most costly food source to acquire."

Instead, she claimed that "[f]rom an efficiency and sustainability perspective ... fruits have been the perfect human food for millennia, similar to that of many of our closest primate ancestors."

The Post indicated that Samsonova hyped her restrictive eating regimen, saying, "I see my body and mind transform every day. ... I love my new me and never move on to the habits that I used to use."

The blogger pushed for others to follow suit, writing, "I eat simple food, although I have a lot of experience as a raw food chef. I love creating my own recipes and inspiring people to eat healthier."

In May 2022, she posted a condemnation of "misinformation and contradictory information" in the field of nutrition, writing, "We have greatly lost sight of what healthy eating truly means. ... We have a subset of people who try to convince others that fruits are 'risky' to eat and a subset of people who believe this, and in turn fear eating fruits. Ridiculous, isn't it?"

Endocrinologist Dr. Shira Eytan told Health in December that vegan diets can result in various vitamin deficiencies, including iron, zinc, calcium and B12.

"Omega-3 fatty acids may also be deficient in a vegan diet," added Eytan.

A 2019 study published in the British Medical Journal found that vegetarians "had higher rates of haemorrhagic and total stroke" than meat eaters.

TheBlaze recently reported that self-described "diehard vegan" Kai-Lee Worsley nearly died after embracing a restrictive diet upon moving to California.

Like Samsonova, Worsley told Wales Online she ended up exhausted and unable to get out of bed.

"I didn't feel strong, like, honestly, I felt so weak. It was like a really slow process until one day I was in bed and I was like I don't think could ever get up again," she recalled. "I came to the point where I was like I might die right now. I might die right here in this tiny apartment in this random city that I moved to."

Survivalist Bear Grylls also learned the hard way that the vegan diet does not live up to the hype, going so far as to apologize for ever having promoted it.

Grylls told the Telegraph, "I was vegan quite a few years ago — in fact, I wrote a vegan cookbook — and I feel a bit embarrassed because I really promoted that. ... I thought that was good for the environment and I thought it was good for my health. And through time and experience and knowledge and study, I realised I was wrong on both counts."

Despite scientific and anecdotal evidence that vegan diets may have downsides, the Post reported that many of Samsonova's fans refuse to believe her eating choices got her killed, maintaining instead that chemicals in the fruits were responsible.

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