Vegan influencer Zhanna Samsonova on fruit-only diet dies after becoming "walking skeleton"

An influencer who lived on nothing but exotic fruit has died at the age of 39.

Zhanna Samsonova, from Russia, was a social media influencer who promoted her exclusive diet of raw tropical fruit - and nothing else.

Now, her family has told Russian media outlets that she died from a "cholera-like infection" abroad. Zhanna has been travelling through Asia for more than 10 years, but close friends believe she may have instead died of malnutrition.

Posting to her Instagram page, Zhanna frequently talked about her excitement over approaching 40 years old - reportedly once saying, "I feel very sad when I see most of my peers - because of junk food, they look much older than their age."

It's thought by her friends that her diet consisted mainly of jackfruit and durian, with the influencer even claiming to never drink water, instead relying solely on juice from fruit.

In one post, she said: "I eat simple food, although I have a lot of experience as a raw food chef. I love creating my own recipes and inspiring people to eat healthier.

"For the last four years, my diet has been only fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices."

One of her friends told 116.RU, a Russian news website: "It was scary to look at her, to be honest. Her hands were thin, like those of my 12-year-old sister.

"But she was always very cheerful, like a child, she was happy when people praised her cooking, she always ran everywhere, she took pictures.”

Her death certificate and official cause of death have not yet been confirmed, although her mother, Vera Samsonova, is pleading online for people to "stop writing bad things".

"She chose this path. I fought for many years [but] she did not listen to her mother," she added

In her final post on Instagram, Zhanna said that "life is meaningless but worth living provided you recognise it's meaningless."