New Delhi: A 39-year-old vegan woman from Russia named Zhanna Samsonova died due to starvation after a year of starting a raw vegan diet. She used to promote raw vegan food as an influencer on her social media profile.
As per local media outlets, Zhanna D’Art, the woman in question, tragically passed away on July 21 while on tour in Southeast Asia. Reportedly, she had been following an all-raw vegan diet for at least a decade, as mentioned in her Instagram post.
One of her friends told the media, “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.”
She 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 stated that her daughter’s cause of death was a “cholera-like infection,” though the official cause remains undisclosed. According to her mother’s interview with Vechernyaya Kazan, she believed the passing might be linked to exhaustion and stress from an all-vegan diet.
As the New York Post reported, a close friend shared that the influencer had consumed solely giant, sweet jackfruit and durian for the past seven years. The durian is a spiky, mace-like fruit known for its custardy meat and pungent odour.
In a post, Samsonova expressed enthusiasm about her strict eating routine, mentioning that she observed daily transformations in her body and mind. She expressed her affection for the new version of herself and her dedication to leaving behind old habits.
