Popular Russian vegan influencer, Zhanna Samsonova, aka Zhanna D’Art, has allegedly died of malnutrition while living on a raw fruit diet in Malaysia.
Samsonova’s diet, which consisted primarily of exotic fruits, raised concerns among her friends and family during her Southeast Asia tour, as she reportedly experienced a significant decline in her health. The 39-year-old followed a “completely raw vegan diet” for the last four years, mainly comprising fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies, and juices.
Disturbingly, a friend disclosed that for the last seven years, she had solely subsisted on giant sweet jackfruit and durian, notorious for its custardy meat and strong odor. While her mother initially attributed her passing to a “cholera-like infection,” questions have arisen about the potential health implications of her extreme eating habits.
Despite concerns surrounding her diet, some of Samsonova’s followers refuse to accept her eating choices as the cause of her death, instead speculating that chemicals in the fruits she consumed were responsible.
However, others are pointing to her extreme diet as a cautionary example of the potential dangers of trendy but nutritionally inadequate eating plans.
While raw food diets can offer benefits such as weight loss and improved heart health, experts caution that they can be nutritionally unsound when not adequately planned. Deficiencies in crucial nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12 can lead to severe health problems, including anemia, nervous system damage, infertility, and heart disease.
A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that 100% of participants on a raw vegan diet consumed less than the recommended 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day.
Sadly, Samsonova is not the first to suffer severe consequences due to an extreme raw food diet. Last year, vegan Florida mother Sheila O’Leary was sentenced to life in prison for the starvation death of her 18-month-old son, whom she had fed only small amounts of fruits and vegetables.
As the tragic news continues to circulate, Samsonova’s social media accounts have been flooded with condolences from her thousands of followers, reflecting the impact she had on her online community.
