Delhi boy Mihir Jain weighed 237 kg at the age of 14, and was not able to walk or breathe properly when he went to a hospital here for a weight-reduction surgery.
The hospital has claimed that he was the “heaviest teen in the world with a BMI of 92 kg/m2” before a bariatric operation helped him shed over 30 kg.
“His weight then was above 237 kg. He was not able to breathe or speak properly, he was dozing off every minute or two. When I learnt about his age, I was disturbed to know that he had reached this dangerous BMI of 92 in just 14 years,” said Pradeep Chowbey, Chairman of Max Institute of Minimal Access, Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
He was advised to reduce 40 kg, by undergoing an extremely restrictive, low-calorie diet, before undergoing surgery, the hospital said on Tuesday.
Mihir, who stands a little over 5 ft high, now weighs 165 kg and targets to get down to 100 kg in the next three years, said the hospital.
Gastric bypass surgery
“Doctors performed a gastric bypass surgery, which restricts the amount of food intake and also causes less absorption of calories. The operation lasted 90 minutes,” a hospital spokesperson said.
A normal BMI ranges between 18-22.5 kg/m2. Those having a BMI of above 32.5 kg/m2 are considered obese and super-super obese if it shoots beyond 60 kg/m2, doctors said.
Mihir weighed 2.5 kg at birth in 2003. He first showed signs of obesity at the age of five, weighing 60-70 kg, the hospital said, adding his family has a history of obesity, but the boy also had an uncontrolled diet, high on junk food.