# Has the guy who doesn't need to eat eaten? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563 "2003-12-23T01:23:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Panopticon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Panopticon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panopticon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/1 "2003-12-23T01:23:43Z")
Has Prahlad Jani, who says who doesn’t need to eat eaten? The story was going around in November… but what is the news since then? Here’s a link: [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article\_Type1&c=Article&cid=1070320211736&call\_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154](http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1070320211736&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154) Pretty baffling. j ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/2 "2003-12-23T01:26:47Z")
Of course he has. That whole page is a load of crap. No one can go 68 years without eating, no matter what anyone says. ---
**Author:** ![Panopticon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Panopticon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panopticon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/3 "2003-12-23T01:33:27Z")
Isn’t that kinda begging the question? Would a BBC story add more credibility to the story? [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south\_asia/3236118.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm) This story was everywhere then it disappeared… I just want to know what happened… -Pan ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/4 "2003-12-23T01:50:05Z")
From the BBC article: “At the end of his confinement, doctors noted no deterioration in his condition, other than a slight drop in his weight.” Why would he have lost weight if the ten day confinement was supposed to simply verify the way he had lived for the past decades? It is, of course, bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/5 "2003-12-23T03:14:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Panopticon \* > \*\*Isn’t that kinda begging the question? Would a BBC story add more credibility to the story? > > [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south\_asia/3236118.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm) > > This story was everywhere then it disappeared… I just want to know what happened… > > -Pan \*\* It has been well established that a person needs energy about 1.2 million calories/day (1200 kilocalories, or food calories which is the same thing) just to stay alive. So if a person is alive they are taking in at least that much energy in the form of food. It really is just that simple once you cut through the “gee whiz” nonsense of the media. Even bbc. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/6 "2003-12-23T03:48:35Z")
As much credibility as the “Ghost Story” being debated in GD right now. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/7 "2003-12-23T08:05:35Z")
They lost me at this line > [@](#): > > Medical science, as usual, was baffled ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/8 "2003-12-23T09:08:55Z")
I can’t help but imagine what would happen if we hooked up this guy with the German cannibal guy… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/9 "2003-12-23T11:14:59Z")
Isn’t there a big cash prize somewhere for anyone that can successfully demonstrate a perpetual motion machine? Just stick this guy on a treadmill and you could clean up… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/10 "2003-12-23T11:18:11Z")
GQ goes downhill? The report says he didn’t drink any liquid for 10 days. How is that possible? ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/11 "2003-12-23T11:49:02Z")
It’s not. Well, it’s _possible_, yes, but the man would be severely dehydrated, if not dying, by that point. It’s real simple- whoever is doing the test/monitoring is either in on it, or lax enough in their observations that the fellow or his compatriots slip him some food and drinks. To paraphrase **David Simmons** and to repeat what I noted in the **GD** thread, you can check the validity of the man’s claim in five minutes; just jam a thermometer in his mouth. Is he warmer than ambient room temperature? If yes, then he’s producing body heat, meaning he’s burning a fuel; IE, food. If he’s not warmer than the room, then he’s dead. And it’s quite easy to go many years in that condition, without any food or drink whatsoever. There is no in between. ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/12 "2003-12-23T11:52:44Z")
Hmm. Just seems weird. They were careful enough to measure the amount of liquid he took, didn’t allow him to bathe, but were careless enough to let someone sneak a drink in for him. Seems odd. I’m not saying he’s for real, I’m just curious. ---
**Author:** ![substatique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@substatique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/substatique)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/13 "2003-12-23T12:16:35Z")
The SDMB does not flaunt the prescribed laws of science. Seek elsewhere, seekers. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/14 "2003-12-23T12:29:54Z")
In answer to r\_k, the James Randi Educational Foundation offers “a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. The prize is in the form of negotiable bonds held in a special investment account.” I think a perpetual motion machine would qualify. > **[Home](https://web.randi.org)** > > JREF ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/15 "2003-12-23T15:18:02Z")
Isn’t this the guy who claims to get calories by looking at the sun? ---
**Author:** ![Panopticon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Panopticon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panopticon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/16 "2003-12-28T18:02:51Z")
Look, it may be somehow explicable without adjusting our presumptions about science. Perhaps he is “cheating” or maybe the story is just a lie propigated by some doctor in need of some attention. But the whole point of the story is that something strange is going on. To dismiss it by saying it runs counter to what we know about the human body and energy is to entirely miss the point. We have good reason to believe a man may have gone 10 days without water… It would be very unscientific to just ignore that as impossible… He should be studied more… we should be trying to learn something from what he is able to do. So what I find frustrating is that the media just droped the story… I mean what happened to the guy? Probably was seen eating at in-n-out but of course that doesn’t get reported… -p ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/17 "2003-12-28T19:01:23Z")
Either the doctors are lying or there is something interesting going on here. I think people in this thread are dismissing this a little too non-chalantly. > [@](#): > > - from the article \* > > A statement from Ahmedabad’s Association of Physicians says that despite no water entering his body, urine nonetheless appeared to form in his bladder - only to be re-absorbed by the bladder walls. > [@](#): > > During that time, he did not consume anything and “neither did he pass urine or stool”, according to the hospital’s deputy superintendent, Dr Dinesh Desai. > [@](#): > > He spent his 10 days in hospital in a specially prepared room, with a sealed-off toilet and constant video surveillance. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/18 "2003-12-28T19:52:23Z")
Barnum underestimated. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/19 "2003-12-28T20:01:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by treis \* > \*\*Either the doctors are lying or there is something interesting going on here. I think people in this thread are dismissing this a little too non-chalantly. \*\* The only interesting thing going on is how many seemingly intelligent people are buying this horseshit. No, the man did not go for 10 days without food or water. Food, maybe, but definitely not water. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563/20 "2003-12-28T20:09:56Z")
Don’t forget though, Q.E.D, that the record without water is 18 days. I can believe he did it for ten days, but not 68 years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-guy-who-doesnt-need-to-eat-eaten/220563.md?page=2)