The man who says he hasn't eaten or drunk for 70 years: Why are eminent doctors taking him seriously?

by Tom Rawstone for the Daily Mail

There are few people, however busy their lives, unable to remember the last meal that they consumed. But Prahlad Jani is one of them.

And the reason is that the last morsel of food that he says passed his lips did so in the early years of World War II.

‘I can’t recall exactly what it was,’ the 82-year-old Indian admits. ‘It was such a long time ago.’

During the 70-odd years since, Mr Jani says he has eaten not so much as a single grain of rice nor consumed a drop of water. And while such an extended gap between meals might be expected to have a fatal impact on the activities of one so deprived, this octogenarian says he’s never felt better.

‘Although I walk 100 or 200 kilometres in the jungle, I never sweat and don’t feel tired or sleepy,’ he says. ‘I can meditate for three, eight or 12 hours — or even months.’

No food? No water? Superhuman strength? One straitjacket (size zero) for Mr Jani, please.

It is, of course, more than tempting to dismiss this Hindu holy man and his claims as the stuff of absolute nonsense.

Medical science tells us that human beings rarely survive more than a week without water, and a couple of months at most without food. To even suggest otherwise is ridiculous, and also potentially dangerous.

Practitioners of extreme starvation diets can cause serious damage to their bodies, leading to death. And yet, despite all that is known, there is a growing bandwagon that says Mr Jani and his incredible claims should not be dismissed entirely out of hand.

On Thursday afternoon, he emerged from hospital in the Indian state of Gujarat, where he had spent 15 days. He was monitored around the clock and, according to the medics who oversaw him, consumed no food and no water whatsoever.

No human should be able to survive such conditions unscathed — the lack of water alone should have killed him. But Mr Jani apparently suffered absolutely no ill-effects at all.

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"Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance"