An older Vietnamese woman claims she has not eaten solid food in half a century, surviving only on water and soft drinks.
Bui Thi Loi from Vietnam’s Quang Binh Province has said her questionable diet – or lack of one – was sparked by a lightning strike in 1963, leaving her feeling nauseous at even the smell of food.
During the Vietnam War, Ms Loi was struck by lightning and knocked unconscious while she and other volunteers were climbing up a mountain to treat injured soldiers. While she regained consciousness, Ms Loi was said to never be the same again, claiming she didn’t feel hungry and didn’t want to eat.
Ms Loi has said while she didn’t crave food, she still cooked for her five children until they grew older and left home but even now, the smell of food makes her feel nauseous. Her diet also meant she could not breastfeed her children when they were babies, leaving her having to ask other women for milk.
A few years after the incident, Ms Loi continued to eat some solid food due to concerns from her family but in 1970, she swapped out food completely for water and soft drink which now fill her fridge and freezers.
Vice Chairman of Loc Ninh Commune People’s Committee, Tran Van Thanh, said the story of Ms Loi’s diet had not been verified but after visits by local Government representatives, they said her house was filled with water bottles and the stove appeared to be unused.
Ms Loi is not the only older person who has lived without food for decades. Prahlad Jani, an Indian breatharian monk, claimed to have lived without eating and drinking since 1940 before he died in 2020 at the age of 91.
The yogi’s story made headlines around the world and Mr Jani was said to have been tested several times by researchers, scientists, and doctors with unexplainable results as to his survival.
Doctors say the sugar in soft drinks is a source of energy for the human body and can replenish energy levels quickly. When entering the body, the sugar is converted into glucose, a natural sugar found in human blood to provide energy for the body to function.
But as we know, drinking too much soft drink is dangerous for human health, leading to problems such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases.
