Fruitarianism lands Ashton Kutcher in the hospital

Ashton Kutcher wanted to learn more about Steve Jobs and feel what it was like to follow in the man's footsteps. And it landed him in the hospital. Kutcher told the story of his hospitalization before the premiere of the Steve Jobs biopic (starring Kutcher as the man himself) at Sundance.

When Steve Jobs was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he refused traditional medical treatments. Instead he turned to a series of increasingly bizarre alternative medicine therapies. One of which, perhaps the one he publicly touted most often, was a "fruitarian" diet.

Fruitarianism is just what you would expect: adherents eat nothing but fruit, plus nuts and seeds (which biologically speaking are fruit). It can be summed up as a diet consisting only of things that fall naturally from plants and trees. No vegetables, no meat, no grains. It is an extreme diet, to say the least. Fruitarianism makes vegans look like slackers, ethically speaking.

Although many people claim that it is healthy and natural, at the very least it is obvious that a fruitarian diet is not nutritionally complete. The fact that people manage to survive on a fruitarian diet is more a testimony to the endurance and durability of the human body rather than anything else. (People have managed to survive for long periods of time on worse. But that doesn't make it good for you.)

After spending just a short time on a fruitarian diet, Kutcher was "doubled over in pain." He was hospitalized, where they found that his diet had actually caused severe pancreatic problems. I find this an interesting result, given that Steve Jobs initially tried the diet to help with his pancreas. I wonder how much fruitarianism contributed to Jobs' eventual death by pancreatic cancer?

At the very least, I commend Kutcher for giving it the old college try. And for being self-aware enough to drop the diet as soon as it caused serious problems.