A vegan influencer with more than 12,000 followers reportedly died from “starvation and exhaustion” after following an extreme raw fruit and vegetable diet.
On June 10 Zhanna Samsonova posted a video on Instagram, which is banned in Russia, showing her eating one of her favourite foods, the durian fruit, which is famous for its pungent smell and custard-like cheesy taste.
As she pulls the fruit apart the 39-year-old’s wrists and lower arms appear very thin, but as she takes a bite of the yellow pulp inside the fruit she says “wow” and that it is “tasty”.
It’s understood Russian national Ms Samsonova, who was living in South East Asia, had been eating only raw fruit and vegetables for the past 10 years.
She had also not drunk water for more than six years, instead using the juices from fruit as her source of liquid sustenance.
Ms Samsonova, who also went by the Instagram handle @rawveganfoodchef, is said to have died in Malaysia on July 21, according to the Mail Online.
Russian newspaper Evening Kazan said Ms Samsonova had been due to fly back to Russia on that the date she died to see her mother.
Vera Samsonova told the paper her daughter’s death was due to a “cholera-like infection” although official documents explaining why she died have not been released.
Mrs Samsonova added that she believed her daughter’s death “could have occurred against the background of the exhaustion of the body by a vegan diet”.
The newspaper said Mrs Samsonova did not approve of her daughter’s vegan diet and that she had originally also eaten fish and dairy products.
Ms Samsonova’s body is expected to be embalmed but the corpse has yet to be returned to Russia after a delay with paperwork, the report added.
The influencer was born in Zelenodolsk, in Kazan, Russia, and later moved to Moscow after university before attending a yoga retreat in India.
Since 2010, she has been developing her Instagram account which is banned in Russia and it’s reported since 2021 she had been working in a vegan café in Thailand selling online courses in the raw food diet for around £50 a go.
A friend who met her in Thailand told Russian news outlet 116.ru her appearance had drastically changed in recent years.
They said: “It was scary to look at her, to be honest, her hands were like those of my 12-year-old sister, thin.’
Another friend added: “Ms Samsonova’s idle starvation was causing her to melt before our eyes, but she believed everything was fine.
“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.”
For information on a vegan diet and maintaining a healthy body, information can be found on the NHS here
