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  • 2017-06-16 (xsd:date)
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  • Do 'Breatharians' Survive Without Food or Water? (en)
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  • In mid-June 2017, tabloids and similar sources published articles about a couple that purports to survive by eating little to no food. Akahi Ricardo and Camila Castello, the articles said, call themselves breatharians, and say they survive on the universe's energy, along with pieces of fruit and vegetable broth eaten 2-3 times per week. This is not the first time that people have made this claim. A Wikipedia page for the practice perhaps best sums it up in noting that [t]hough it is common knowledge that biological entities require sustenance to survive, breatharianism continues. Notably, The Sun and many regurgitators of the piece repeated claims purportedly made by Ricardo and Castello without checking them against very basic science understood across humanity: Throughout the profile (which was republished across the web with no additional fact checking), the couple alternately claimed to eat occasionally and to describe themselves as food free. Whether the couple claimed to eat very little or nothing at all, no apparent verification of their claims was made before pushing the dangerous suggestion one could live without food or water out to large audiences. Predictably, the practice has indeed proved fatal. Victims in Scotland, Australia, and Switzerland were among individuals who died in an attempt to survive without food or water. A 1999 Guardian article about the deaths quoted an expert on survival medicine: Moreover, the couple profiled by The Sun weren't the first breatharians to admit to or be caught eating food while claiming not to eat or drink. Jasmuheen, an ex-business woman and founder of the movement has never proved she doesn't eat, demonstrates signs of eating, and nutritional experts believe the claim may be a delusion shared among individuals who underestimate their occasional eating: Although claims of breatharians surviving and thriving pop up every few years, we were unable to find any evidence contradicting the body of science demonstrating humans require water and food to stay alive. It's possible the couple profiled by The Sun in June 2017 both genuinely made and believed their own claims, but we found no proof the impossible assertion was actually true. When tested, purported breatharians such as Jasmuheen failed to last more than a few days without food and water. (en)
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