World’s Heaviest Man Dies

Jose Luis Garza, 47, weighed 992lb (450kg) and had been bedridden for four months. His condition deteriorated at the weekend as he struggled to breathe and eat, and he lost his battle for life as he was driven to hospital on the back of a friend’s lorry

Mr Garza lived in Juarez in northern Mexico and was a friend of Manuel Uribe, the world’s fattest man and a fellow Mexican who lived about one hour away in Monterrey.

Mr Garza had said that his overeating became out of control after the deaths of both his parents within two weeks of each other at the start of this year. He was inspired by Mr Uribe — whose record weight of 1,235lb earned him a place in the 2007 Guinness World Records — to follow his lead in going on television to plead for help in tackling his weight problem.

The television programme, World’s Heaviest Man, detailed his battles to lose weight and his housebound life.

He has said that he plans to launch the Manuel Uribe Foundation to educate Mexican people about nutrition, to combat obesity problems. He has asked Guinness World Records to certify in July 2008, his second title: “The world’s greatest loser of weight.”

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