--- title: "Influencer Who Only Ate Raw Fruits and Vegetables Dies" description: "A vegan influencer seems to have died of starvation-related causes after eating only raw fruits and vegetables for multiple years." date: "2023-08-02" modified: "2023-08-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/raw-vegan-influencer-dies" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "anorexia" - "diets" - "influencers" - "vegan" --- # Influencer Who Only Ate Raw Fruits and Vegetables Dies ![A vegan influencer seems to have died of starvation-related causes after eating only raw fruits and vegetables for multiple years.]() *\Image: Zhanna Samsonova\* A vegan influencer seems to have died of starvation-related causes after eating only raw fruits and vegetables — and not drinking water — for years. As [*The Sun* reports](), Russian influencer Zhanna Samsonova, better known as Zhanna D'Art on social media, died in Malaysia on July 21 after her friends and family begged her to seek medical attention. The influencer's mother Vera told Russian media that her 39-year-old daughter died of a "cholera-like infection" not long after she implored her to come back home to Moscow. "I understood that Zhanna was about to die," the elder Samsonova told the Russian newspaper *Novye Izvestiya*, "but still I could not help her in any way. My daughter's life has turned into a nightmare." Along with eating only uncooked fruits and vegetables — primarily durian and jackfruit, according to friends — the influencer also claimed to not have had any water to drink for years because, she insisted, she simply didn't need it. "I have not drunk water for the last 6 years. This is a common occurrence in those who are on a fruit diet," D'Art wrote in an [Instagram post from 2022](). "This is not something that I limit or restrain myself, it's just that my body does not require it." That belief was, of course, incorrect. As the [Mayo Clinic notes](), water is "essential to keeping your body functioning properly and feeling healthy," and most of our bodies' systems require water to survive. And the [universal medical consensus]() is that a varied, well-balanced diet is necessary for healthy functioning. While it's possible to get all the nutrients you need from a [robust vegan diet]() that includes cooked foods, experts have established that [raw veganism can be very unhealthy](). All told, it sounds like a tragic intersection of bunk medical science and influencer culture. Though the raw food enthusiast looked relatively normal in the aforementioned post, more recent photos show her looking emaciated and sickly, which friends of D'Art's say "horrified" them. "Her hands were like those of my 12-year-old sister, thin," that friend told Russia's *116.ru* news site. "I lived one floor above her and every day I feared finding her lifeless body in the morning." "She didn't make it," that friend added. In spite of her increasingly-unwell appearance, D'Art reportedly insisted that she looked and felt younger and healthier than the people around her who ate what she called "junk food." As *The Sun* notes, those close to the influencer described her diet as a form of anorexia and claimed that in the months leading up to her death last month, her eating disorder had gotten worse. "She chose this path," her mom said. "I fought for many years \[but\] she did not listen to her mother." **More on weird diets:** [*Scientists Make Horrific Discovery About Cannibalism in Human Ancestors*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()