[2] P. A. Straubinger first encounters inedia in a television documentary about Nicholas of Flüe, a 15th-century ascetic who was reported to have lived 19 years without eating.

He travels through different countries and interviews people who claim to nourish themselves with light, vitality, Prana or Qi, among them Jasmuheen, Michael Werner and "Mataji" Prahlad Jani.

[11][12][13] In other cases, people have attempted to survive on sunlight alone, only to abandon the effort after losing a large percentage of their body weight.

[15] In the German Das Erste talk show Menschen bei Maischberger[citation needed] and two TV-discussions on ORF in Austria, critics warned that the film could motivate people to stop eating.

[16] In Switzerland, according to the national newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, a woman who saw the film attempted to live on sunlight alone, and died in January 2012.