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Monday October 4, 2010

Size matters to Spain’s most obese man


Spare a thought for Gustavo Moreno who has become a reluctant star of the Spanish media this week. He is, dare I say it, being feted as Spain’s most obese individual who at only 31 years of age, weighs 260 kilos.

The good news is that in recent months Colombian born Mr Moreno managed to shed 20 kilos but according to the Spanish medical fraternity drastic action was needed to prevent his condition becoming even more life threatening than it already was. Yesterday therefore at the exclusive Teknon Clinic in Barcelona- in a blaze of publicity- the overweight young blade had a gastric-bypass operation using the latest keyhole surgery.

Mr Moreno’s weight apparently soared when he was 15 years old but it seems to be an affliction affecting the whole family given that his 19 year old sister has already been fitted with a gastric band and both parents are no sylphs. Critics in Spain are furious that the medical procedure appears to have been carried out at a private clinic at taxpayers expense when many other patients, whose problems they claim are not self induced, remain languishing on hospital waiting lists.

Controversy aside, Gustavo Moreno is already dreaming of leading a normal life. He hopes to return to his job at Barcelona airport- hopefully not in a Krispy Kreme kiosk- and to make his girlfriend happy. If his doctor’s targets are correct and the incredible hulk does lose 160 kilos in the next 18 months, I am sure his girlfriend will rejoice that he can actually rise to his feet, providing of course, his next step isn’t towards the door of the local Mcdonald’s.

This first appeared at www.telegraph.co.uk/expat



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