New Delhi: At 14, Delhi boy Mihir Jain weighed 237 kg 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.
The boy was made to loose 40 kg through diet control before he being operated upon, the hospital said in a statement today.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, and is universally expressed in units of kg/m2.
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 came to us last December on a wheel-chair and he was highly obese. His BMI was 92 an that is amazingly high. He wasn't able to open his eyes, as his face was puffy, and not able to stand properly.
"His weight then was above 237 kg. He was not able to breathe or speak properly, he was dozing off and sleeping 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 Dr 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 at the hospital.
According to the hospital, Mihir, who stands a little over 5 ft high (161 cm), now weighs 165 kg and targets to get down to 100 kg in the next three years.
"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.
Mihir weighed 2.5 kg at birth in 2003. He first showed signs of obesity at the age of 5, 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.
"He has been on a supervised diet which began with complete liquids followed by soft diet. Now, he is taking solid food but more of protein-rich and less carbohydrates-rich food," the hospital said, adding, his BMI in December was 92 and at the time of surgery it was 76 units.
"Generally with 92 BMI, the surgery one can think of is gastric sleeve, but we were strongly in favour of gastric bypass as it is a gold standard procedure," Chowbey said.
Mihir's mother, Puja Jain said since he was bed-bound, he had to be "home schooled, and eventually lost touch with all his friends".
He has now begun exercising and is looking forward to the day when he becomes a "normal weight" person, and can return to school.
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