LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- A vegan food influencer has reportedly died from starvation and exhaustion after moving to Sri Lanka and switching to raw fruit diet.
According to reports, Zhanna Samsonova, from Russia, had been living in South-East Asia, eating an exclusively raw vegan diet consisting of fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices for the past five years.
The 40-year-old influencer, known as Zhanna D’Art online, reportedly died from a ‘cholera-like infection’ caused by ‘exhaustion of the body by a vegan diet,’ her mother, Vera Samsonova, told Russian newspaper, Vechernyaya Kazan.
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Zhanna’s official cause of death has not yet been determined, as her family is trying to get her body back to Russia.
The food blogger’s mum further revealed that Zhanna was supposed to fly home to Kazan on the day of her death.
Speaking with journalists, an anonymous friend of Zhanna claimed they saw Zhanna a few months ago in Sri Lanka ‘looking exhausted’.
“They sent her home to seek treatment. However, she ran away again. When I saw her in Phuket, I was horrified,’“the source said.
“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.”