anthropometry

The fattest man in the world

In January 2006 the Mexican Manuel Uribe Garza, with his 550 kg (1235 pounds), was crowned the fattest man in the world, fully entering the Guinness Book.

At that time his BMI (h = 194 cm) was equal to 146, when it is enough to exceed the value of 30 to fall into the category of the obese, and the value of 40 to be considered very serious obese.

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Technically it is more correct to define Manuel as the heaviest man in the world, since the attention has always focused on his body weight rather than on the entity of his fat mass.

The photos depicting Manuel Uribe Garza in the bed unable to move are nothing short of impressive.

In 2007 his desperate appeal on TV went around the world and was welcomed, among others, by the Italian doctor Giancarlo De Bernardinis who planned the execution of a gastric bypass surgery in the Modena polyclinic.

However, this was not possible: despite efforts to adapt the hospital to the size of the patient, operating rooms and equipment were never approved to support the weight and size of the heaviest man in the world.

According to the doctors who visited Manuel at that time, his blood, heart and lung values ​​were relatively normal, contrary to what happens in these cases.

It therefore appears that his obesity was simply due to excessive food intake; no excuses like genetics and low metabolism for Manuel, who had to thank only the fast food and junk food ingested compulsively.

Despite the inability to undergo bariatric surgery, thanks to a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, between 2007 and 2008 Manuel was able to reduce his weight by around 200kg, but still continued to be morbidly obese. Still with 350 kg on his shoulders, Manuel was among other things unable to get out of bed and stand on his own.

Manuel Uribe Garza has never managed to win his fight against obesity and in recent years he has begun to gain weight; in December 2009 it weighed 416 kg and in March 2012 444.6 kg.

Manuel died on March 26, 2014 at the age of 48, presumably from a cardiac arrhythmia. At the time of his death he weighed 394kg.