Man, 50, is addicted to eating trees when he was poor (photos)

A 50-year-old man in Pakistan is addicted to eating trees

He has been addicted for the past 25 years

He developed the habit after resorting to eating leaves when he was too poor to buy food

A 50-year-old man in Gujranwala in Pakistan's Punjab province has been addicted to eating tree leaves for the past 25 years.

Mehmood told a local reporter that he first developed the habit when he was too poor to buy food and could not stop even when he found a job.

He said: "There was too much poverty in my family. Everything was beyond limit and it was very difficult for me to get a meal. I thought it is better to eat wood rather than begging on a street."


Mehmood says he is addicted to eating leaves
However, the habit stuck even when he found a job and could afford meals. He said: "Eating wood and leaves has become my habit now."

Neighbors in his community expressed surprise that he has never picked up an illness from his unusual eating habit.


Mehmood has been eating leaves for the past 25 years
A neighbor, Ghulam Mohammad said: "He will stop his cart on the roadside anytime and will eat fresh tree branches."

Mohammad added: "He has never visited a doctor or any hospital. We are shocked how can a person not fall ill despite eating wood all these years."


Mehmood uses his donkey cart to earn a living as a transporter