Vegan influencer dies after radical diet
Her eating habits became more and more extreme. Friends and family worried about Zhanna Samsonova. Now the food blogger has died.
More than 10,000 followers followed her on Instagram. Zhanna Samsonova shared her life and her raw vegan diet, and the influencer, known as Zhanna D’Art, repeatedly posted photos of herself and her food. But it’s been quiet on her channel for weeks. Now it is known: Zhanna Samsonova died in Thailand.
As her mother, Vera Samsonova, told the Russian newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan, she allegedly died on July 21 from a “cholera-like infection” that was aggravated by the “body’s exhaustion from a vegan diet.” While she used to allow herself fish and dairy products, her daughter is said to have only fed on “fruit, sunflower sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices”.
One of her last posts dates back to June. In the photo, Zhanna Samsonova shows herself with a thumbs up. “Finally it’s fruit season in Thailand, the most awaited time,” she wrote. “Time to gain weight!” But only six weeks after this post, the influencer is dead.
The exact cause of death of the food blogger is still pending. The Russian influencer has lived in Malaysia for the past five years. The family is currently trying to have the body transferred to Russia. On the very day of her death, Zhanna Samsonova wanted to fly back to her mother in Kazan. But the influencer no longer arrived there.
Vera Samsonova did not agree with her daughter’s extreme diet and tried in vain to convince her to adopt more balanced eating habits. Her friends have also expressed concern about her increasingly restrictive eating habits. “I lived one floor above her and every day I feared to find her lifeless body in the morning. I persuaded her to get treatment but she didn’t make it,” a friend told Newsflash.
Vegan Zhanna Samsonova (39) dies after a radical diet
She fed on fruits, sunflower sprouts, smoothies and juices: now the Russian-born vegan influencer Zhanna Samsonova has died. She was only 39 years old.
She followed the radical raw food diet for five years and advertised her special diet online under the name “Zhanna D’Art”.
An official cause of death has not yet been announced. However, Zhanna’s mother told the Russian newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan that her daughter died of a “cholera-like infection”.
And she believes that the “exhaustion of the body” may have been made worse by the vegan diet. At times, Zhanna weighed only 41 kilos. The mother did not approve of the lifestyle.
Zhanna last lived in Asia, including in Thailand. On the day of her death, she was supposed to fly back to Kazan, her hometown in Russia.
But the 39-year-old did not arrive there – but the sad news of her death.
An anonymous friend of Zhanna’s told Newsflash that he saw her in Sri Lanka a few months ago where she looked “exhausted”. Her legs were also swollen.
“I lived one floor above her and every morning I was afraid to find her lifeless body. I persuaded her to seek treatment but she couldn’t,” the friend said.
According to media reports, Zhanna initially ate a vegetarian diet, occasionally eating dairy products and fish. But over the years, her diet is said to have become more and more extreme.
According to a friend, for the last few years she has been living almost exclusively on durian – a prickly tropical fruit.
Is vegan even healthy?
Vegans do NOT eat animal products. Not only meat and fish are taboo, but also eggs, cheese, milk and honey. However, this only leads to such a radical raw food diet as with Zhanna in individual cases.
The fact is: Basically, you can also eat vegan healthy. But then you have to pay special attention to absorbing all the important nutrients. There is a particular risk of undersupply of vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, omega-3 and proteins.
However, you can counteract this with a conscious diet or dietary supplements. If in doubt, you should consult your family doctor or a nutritionist.
