MTV’s True Life regularly features individuals who live extraordinary lives. A recent episode titled "I’m Obsessed With Staying Young" truly pushes this envelope and features a 19-year-old California girl whose efforts to preserve her youth include eating a human placenta and bathing in animal blood.

In the documentary, “Chanel” explains that she wants to bathe in pig’s blood because she believes that's what individuals did “thousands of years ago” to stay youthful, Gawker reported. Unfortunately, her reasoning is more rooted in personal obsession than scientific fact, and it’s clear her need to stay young will never be satisfied.

According to BBC News, in ancient times the sick were encouraged to drink the blood of freshly killed gladiators in an effort to cure their ailments. The idea of using blood to conserve youth was also made popular by Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. The 16th century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory is rumored to have bathed in the blood of virgins to conserve her youth. However, in reality, although blood does help the body to regenerate itself, the idea of using the substance to actually conserve youth is purely fictional.

Chanel’s grandmother, however, raises valid points concerning the hygienic dangers of her attempts to stay young and beautiful. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, humans have been known to contract specific forms of the flu virus from contact with pigs. Also, consumption of raw pig is associated with trichinellosis and Steptococcus suis meningitis.