Breatharianism in India

[lazarus]

Seriously, someone is taking this seriously.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/seeking-troop-longevity-indian-military-taps-holy-man-70-year-fast

India's Defense Research Development Organization thinks it may have found a new secret weapon: an 82-year-old holy man named Prahlad Jani. His tactical advantage: longevity. Jani claims via the UK's Telegraph that he has not consumed food or drink for 70 years, and military authorities are conducting a rigorous study to see if he's onto something they could use.

Skeptical? You should be. Medical science says -- and there's some variability here based on differences in metabolism, environment, etc. -- that after 3 to 5 days of fasting your glucose levels get seriously out of whack. If you're still hanging around at day 50, you're tougher than most. That's if you're drinking water. If not, "your body can survive a maximum of 3 days without the intake of water, assuming you are at sea level, at room temperature, and a relative humidity," says Bruce Zawalsky of the Boreal Wilderness Institute. That's a far cry from seven decades.

But Indian authorities seem to think Jani could be on to something, and they're trying to find out exactly what it is.

[ChadwickHenryWard]

1. That's too fucking funny.

I often wonder what these frauds do when somebody comes around wanting to run scientific tests. It's even funnier because the scientists are trying to prove his bullshit, rather than disprove it. Hilarity shall ensue.

[TZ]

2. Its Big Food and Big Water who don't want this secret told!!!

Seriously...I bet you there are some here that would say Monsanto is going to kill this guy to hide his secret....

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. Monsanto is trying to kill this guy

to hide his secret:hide: :rofl:

[Warpy]

6. Remember the 60s?

This guy had a brief period of notoriety among the hippie health food people during which a few souls tried to become breatharians.

If they didn't crack within a couple of days, they were hospitalized.

[TZ]

10. I was born in 1969

So my memory of that decade is a little hazy...;)

[FiveGoodMen]

3. P T Barnum didn't know the half of it!

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. He probably just injects a brazilian milligrams of Vitamin D every day

I heard that Vitamin D makes you invincible to death. And cures bunions!!!11!!!1 I'm series!!!!1111!!1!!!11!!!

[charlie]

7. Yeah, someone's taking it seriously

This guy, Sudhir Shah:

http://www.sudhirneuro.org/jain.php

He's the head of the observer team. He's a credentialed scientist, but regards science as a tool to affirm the revealed glory of Jainism to the world. Where science and his religion conflict, it is Jainism that is infallible.

This link has a graphic of Jani enjoying one of the "periodic" baths he took during his 2003 observed fast:

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/tag/prahlad-jani

"Periodically" is the word Dr Shah uses for Jani's bathing and gargling. It's in the results he just released... to a blogger:

http://deshgujarat.com/2010/05/06/15-day-test-on-gujarats-miracle-yogi-concludes-researchers-amazed

Jani can go a lifetime without water, but 15 days of Wetnaps and Listerine would wreck his prana, I suppose.

Remember Sanal Edamaruku, the Indian rationalist who was recently on YouTube giggling as a Hindu holy man tried to kill him? The guy usually handling point from India whenever Mother Teresa's hospice fraud comes up? He's been chasing Shah and Jani's clown show for years:

Sanal Edamaruku, the association’s secretary general, told the Mail: ‘I asked to be allowed to send an independent team to survey the room where this test is taking place, but I was repeatedly turned down.

'It is ridiculous to ask people to believe that any man can go 15 days, let alone 70 years, without food or water.

‘Dr Shah has been in charge of three similar investigations over the past ten years, and he has never allowed independent verification.

'In 2000, he was asking for funds to investigate a man he claimed got his energy from the sun, just like plants do.

‘In 2003, he even approached NASA for funds to investigate Mr Jani, claiming astronauts might benefit from the research. This particular hospital, led by this particular doctor, keeps on making these claims without ever producing evidence or publishing research.’

Mr Edamaruku is convinced that Mr Jani must have had access to food and water at the hospital, and does not believe that he was kept under strict supervision around the clock.

He says that whenever the Rationalist Association has investigated individuals making similar claims, all have been exposed as frauds.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1274779/The-man-says-eaten-drunk-70-years-Why-eminent-doctors-taking-seriously.html

[lazarus]

8. Edamaraku is teh awesome

Thanks for posting this.

[charlie]

9. I agree, he's got the Right Stuff

In a country with religion and woo more baked-in than ours, against a billion adherents. We've got it easy.