How long can you survive without food? It all depends on a person’s weight, overall health and metabolic rate, but according to scientific data, a human being can’t go much longer than 3 weeks without food. Now, a 22-year-old man from China means to challenge this theory claiming he has survived 12 years on water alone.
Ning Xuefa, a young man from China’s Henan province, has recently made headlines for claiming he hasn’t had a bite of food in the last 12 years. Looking at the 1.50-meter-tall, 40-kg-heavy Ning one can tell he doesn’t like to eat much, but his story seems almost impossible to believe. He told Chinese media that he completely renounced food when he was just a 10-year-old child. Just looking at bread or vegetables at the dinner table made him nauseous, and he always had a dry throat and a weird sensation like something was stuck there that made him drink lots of water all day long. He currently consumes up to 15 liters of water in a day, and his father back up his story that he never touches a single scrap of food, whether it’s rice, steamed bread or meat.
The closest thing to food that doesn’t make Ning Xuefa sick is milk, but his family is too poor to buy milk for him every day. So the thirsty young man is forced to survive on water alone. He tried to get a job in construction to help out his parents, but his weak body, frail constitution and the constant need to go to the bathroom even at night eventually got him fired. Ning had to return home and depend on his family for help. But, considering his eating habits, I don’t think they consider him a big burden.
Ning Xuefa has also been examined by doctors and diagnosed with a rare chronic thirst-inducing disease, but they haven’t yet been able to determine how he was able to survive all these years without any kind of food. Usually I’d be quick to classify this story as bogus, but I remember writing about the Indian Yogi who proved he can survive on air alone, and the woman who didn’t drink water for 78 years. I’ll try to keep an eye on this story to see how it develops.
Source: Global Times via 24h.com.vn
