Woman aiming to prove we can live without food

A Seattle woman is aiming to go 100 days without eating to prove that humans can "live on light".

Naveena Shine says she believes it is possible for humans to survive without food and is conducting what she describes as an experiment to prove it.

The 65-year-old, originally from Britain, has been consuming just water and "one, maybe two cups of tea a day" since May 3. Other people have previously claimed to be able to survive without food and water, although no one has ever proven it to be possible and some have died attempting it.

Dr Ronald Hoffman, medical director of the Hoffman Centre and host of a weekly health talk podcast, said it was "delusional to think that you can escape the laws of biology".

"Plants have what are called choroplasts that contain chlorophyll and they have the ability to capture energy from sunlight," Hoffman said. "Humans don't have cholorphyll or chloroplasts. No humans do. It is impossible for a human to have that."

Hoffman said if Shine continued to not eat food her organs would eventually fail and she would die.

Shine contends that "a doctor can't see living on light because he looks through different lenses" and has said she is not undergoing medical tests during the experiment.