A Russian national vegan and raw food influencer, Zhanna D’Art has allegedly died of ‘starvation’ after surviving only on exotic fruits in Malaysia.
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As per the reports, social media influencer Zhanna Samsonova, who went by Zhanna D’Art on her handles, with millions of followers, to promote a raw plant-based diet, died last month on 21, at the age of 39, confirmed her family and friends.
“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,” a neighbour friend of the influencer told the foreign media outlet.
The person 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.”
While the reason for the death is not confirmed, her mother believes that Samsonova had developed a ‘cholera-like infection’ and succumbed to exhaustion and the stress on her body due to an all-vegan diet, she had been following for over a decade.
“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,” Samsonova earlier gushed about lifestyle, which helped her look a lot younger than her ‘peers’, who are fond of ‘junk food’.
According to the late influencer and raw food chef, she ate simple food and created her own recipes, which inspired others towards a healthy lifestyle.
However, her friends told the publication that she was surviving merely on raw fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies, and juices for the last decade, whereas, for the last seven years, Samsonova had only eaten giant, sweet jackfruit and durian – a spiky, mace-like fruit known for its custardy meat and noxious odour.
While the vegan diet is all in trend now and eating raw foods has its own set of health benefits including weight loss, improved heart health and a lower risk of diabetes, it can lead to calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies and suboptimal B12 levels, which can result in anaemia, nervous system damage and infertility.
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