Inedia

Inedia (Latin for 'fasting') or breatharianism /brɛθˈɛəriənɪzəm/ is the false belief that it is possible for a person to live without consuming food, and in some cases water. It is considered a deadly pseudoscience by scientists and medical professionals, and several adherents of these practices have died from starvation or dehydration.[1][2] It is an established fact that humans require food and water (nutrients) to survive.[2][3][4]

1669 report that claims a woman fasted for 12 months
Part of a series on the
Paranormal

Breatharians claim that food (and sometimes water) is not necessary for survival, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana, the vital life force in Hinduism. According to Ayurveda, sunlight is one of the main sources of prana, and some practitioners believe that it is possible for a person to survive on sunlight alone. The terms breatharianism or inedia may also refer to this philosophy when it is practiced as a lifestyle in place of a usual diet.

Scientific assessment

Documented studies on the physiological effects of food restriction clearly show that fasting for extended periods leads to starvation, dehydration, and eventual death.[5] In the absence of food intake, the body normally burns its own reserves of glycogen, body fat, and muscle. Breatharians claim that their bodies do not consume these reserves while fasting.[6]

Some breatharians have submitted themselves to medical testing, including a hospital's observation of Indian mystic Prahlad Jani appearing to survive without food or water for 15 days. However, the hospital Jani attended was privately owned, and official documentation of the event has not been publicised.[7][8] In other cases, people have attempted to survive on sunlight alone, only to abandon the effort after losing a large percentage of their body weight.[9]

In a handful of documented cases, individuals attempting breatharian fasting have died.[2][3][4] Among the claims in support of inedia investigated by the Indian Rationalist Association, all were found to be fraudulent. Scientific societies such as the British Dietetic Association strongly disadvise the breatharian diet, qualifying it as "dangerous", and stating that "the basic fact is we all need food and liquid in our diet to live."[1][10]

Practitioners

Rosicrucianism

The 1670 Rosicrucian text Comte de Gabalis attributed the practice to the physician and occultist Paracelsus (1493–1541) who was described as having lived "several years by taking only one half scrupule of Solar Quintessence". In this book, it is also stated that "Paracelsus affirms that He has seen many of the Sages fast twenty years without eating anything whatsoever."[11]

Ram Bahadur Bomjon ("Bakji")

Ram Bahadur Bomjon is a young Nepalese Buddhist monk who lives as an ascetic in a remote area of Nepal. Bomjon appears to go for long periods of time without ingesting either food or water.[12][13] One such period was chronicled in a 2006 Discovery Channel documentary titled The Boy With Divine Powers, which reported that Bomjon neither moved, ate, nor drank anything during 96 hours of filming.[14]

Prahlad Jani ("Mataji")

Prahlad Jani was an Indian sadhu who claimed to have lived without food and water for more than 70 years. His claims were investigated by doctors at Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 2003 and 2010.[15] The study concluded that Prahlad Jani was able to survive under observation for two weeks without either food or water, and had passed no urine or stool,[16] with no need for dialysis.[17] Interviews with the researchers speak of strict observation and relate that round-the-clock observation was ensured by multiple CCTV cameras. Jani was subjected to multiple medical tests.[18] The research team could not comment on his claim of having been able to survive in this way for decades.

The case has attracted criticism, both after the 2003 tests and the 2010 tests. Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, criticized the 2010 experiment for allowing Jani to move out of a certain CCTV camera's field of view, meet devotees, and leave the sealed test room to sunbathe. Edamaruku stated that the regular gargling and bathing activities were not sufficiently monitored, and accused Jani of having had some "influential protectors" who denied Edamaruku permission to inspect the project during its operation.[19]

Jasmuheen

Jasmuheen (born Ellen Greve) was a prominent advocate of breatharianism in the 1990s. She said "I can go for months and months without having anything at all other than a cup of tea. My body runs on a different kind of nourishment."[20] Interviewers found her house stocked with food; Jasmuheen claimed the food was for her husband and daughter. In 1999, she volunteered to be monitored closely by the Australian television program 60 Minutes for one week without eating, to demonstrate her methods.[21][22] Jasmuheen stated that she found it difficult on the third day of the test because the hotel room in which she was confined was located near a busy road, causing stress and pollution that prevented absorption of required nutrients from the air. "I asked for fresh air. Seventy percent of my nutrients come from fresh air. I couldn’t even breathe," she said. The third day, the test was moved to a mountainside retreat, where her condition continued to deteriorate. After Jasmuheen had fasted for four days, Berris Wink, president of the Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association, urged her to stop the test.[23]

According to Wink, Jasmuheen's pupils were dilated, her speech was slow, and she was "quite dehydrated, probably over 10%, getting up to 11%". Towards the end of the test, she said, "Her pulse is about double what it was when she started. The risks if she goes any further are kidney failure. 60 Minutes would be culpable if they encouraged her to continue. She should stop now." The test was stopped. Wink said, "Unfortunately there are a few people who may believe what she says, and I'm sure it's only a few, but I think it's quite irresponsible for somebody to be trying to encourage others to do something that is so detrimental to their health."[23] Jasmuheen challenged the results of the program, saying, "Look, 6,000 people have done this around the world without any problem."[24][25][26]

Jasmuheen was awarded the Bent Spoon Award by Australian Skeptics in 2000 ("presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle").[27] She also won the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature for Living on Light.[28] Jasmuheen claims that their beliefs are based on the writings and "more recent channelled material" from St. Germain.[29] She stated that some people's DNA has expanded from 2 to 12 strands, to "absorb more hydrogen". When offered $30,000 to prove her claim with a blood test, she said that she didn't understand the relevance as she was not referring to herself.[30]

In the documentary No Way to Heaven, the Swiss chemist Michael Werner claims to have followed the directions appearing in Jasmuheen's books, living for several years without food. The documentary also describes two attempts at scientific verification of his claims. As of 2017, five deaths had been directly linked to breatharianism as a result of Jasmuheen's publications.[31][32][33][34] Jasmuheen has denied any responsibility for the deaths.

Wiley Brooks

Wiley Brooks is the founder of the Breatharian Institute of America. He was first introduced to the public in 1980 when he appeared on the TV show That's Incredible!.[35] Brooks stopped teaching recently to "devote 100% of his time on solving the problem as to why he needed to eat some type of food to keep his physical body alive and allow his light body to manifest completely".[36] Brooks claims to have found "four major deterrents" which prevented him from living without food: "people pollution", "food pollution", "air pollution", and "electro pollution".[36]

In 1983 he was reportedly observed leaving a Santa Cruz 7-Eleven with a Slurpee, a hot dog, and Twinkies.[37] He told Colors magazine in 2003 that he periodically breaks his fasting with a cheeseburger and a cola, explaining that when he's surrounded by junk culture and junk food, consuming them adds balance.[38]

Wiley Brooks later claimed that Diet Coke and McDonald's cheeseburgers have special "5D" properties. The idea of separate but interconnected 5D and 3D worlds is a major part of Wiley Brooks' ideology, and Wiley Brooks encourages his followers to only eat these special 5D foods, as well as to meditate on a set of magical 5D words.[39]

Brooks's institute has set various prices for prospective clients wishing to learn how to live without food, ranging from US$100,000 with an initial deposit of $10,000,[40] to one billion dollars, to be paid via bank wire transfer with a preliminary deposit of $100,000, for a session called "Immortality workshop".[41] A payment plan was also offered.[42] These charges have typically been presented as limited time offers exclusively for billionaires.[43][44]

Hira Ratan Manek

Hira Ratan Manek (born 12 September 1937) claims that since 18 June 1995, he has lived on water and occasionally tea, coffee, and buttermilk. Manek states that Sungazing is the key to his health,[45] citing yogis, ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Mayans, and Native Americans as practitioners of the art.[46] While he and his proponents state that medical experts have confirmed his ability to draw sustenance by gazing at the sun,[47] he was caught on camera eating a big meal in a San Francisco restaurant in the 2011 documentary Eat the Sun.[48][49]

Ray Maor

In a television documentary produced by the Israeli television investigative show The Real Face (פנים אמיתיות), hosted by Amnon Levy, Israeli practitioner of inedia Ray Maor (ריי מאור) appeared to survive without food or water for eight days and eight nights. According to the documentary, he was restricted to a small villa and placed under constant video surveillance, with medical supervision that included daily blood testing. The documentary claimed Maor was in good spirits throughout the experiment; that he lost 17 lb after eight days; that blood tests showed no change before, during or after the experiment; and that cardiologist Ilan Kitsis from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center was "baffled".[50][51][52]

Religious traditions

Catholicism
See also: Anorexia mirabilis

Anorexia mirabilis, also known as holy anorexia or inedia prodigiosa or colloquially as fasting girls, was a common eating disorder, but not restricted to, the Middle Ages in Europe, largely affecting Catholic nuns and religious women. Indeed, documentation exists regarding about two-thirds of the holy women officially regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as saints, blesseds, venerables, or servants of God and who lived after 1200 AD showing that more than half of these displayed clear signs of anorexia, with extensive and highly reliable documentation being available for about two dozen of these.[53]

Hinduism

Hindu religious texts contain account of saints and hermits practicing what would be called inedia, breatharianism or Sustenance through Light in modern terms. In Valmiki's Ramayana, Book III, Canto VI, an account of anchorites and holy men is given, who flocked around Rama when he came to Śarabhanga's hermitage. These included, among others, the "...saints who live on rays which moon and daystar give" and "those ... whose food the wave of air supplies". In Canto XI of the same book a hermit named Māṇḍakarṇi is mentioned: "For he, great votarist, intent – On strictest rule his stern life spent – ... – Ten thousand years on air he fed..." (English quotations are from Ralph T. H. Griffith's translation).

Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi details two alleged historical examples of breatharianism, Hari Giri Bala and Therese Neumann.

There are claims that Devraha Baba lived without food.

Taoism

Bigu (grain avoidance) is a fasting technique with various different interpretations, from simply avoiding eating specific grains, to avoiding all grains, to eating no food at all, and drawing sustenance from gulps of air.[54]

Jainism
Main article: Fasting in Jainism

There are varying types of fasts practised by followers of Jainism. Some Jain monks and laities continuously fast for months. These fasts last six months or even longer. A Jain monk Sahaj Muni Maharaj is said to have completed his 365-day fast on 1 May 1998.[55] Another Jain monk Hansaratna Vijayji said to have completed 423-day fast in 494 days in 2015. He had previously fast for 108 days in 2013 and for 180 days in 2014.[56] Several others have claimed to have fast for six months.[57][58][59]

gollark: I don't know if this is actually true either.
gollark: And ethical.
gollark: That's totally enforceable.
gollark: Of course not.
gollark: Minoteaur™ actually uses zstandard for revision compression.

See also

References
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