WORLD’S FATTEST MAN DIES, AGED 44

A Londoner who was officially the fattest man in the world has died.
Keith Martin, 44, died from pneumonia following a lengthy battle with his weight.
It happened just eight months after Mr Martin – who weighed 70 stone at his heaviest – had undergone a successful gastric sleeve which removed three-quarters of his stomach.
Now the surgeon who tried to save him with life-changing weight-loss surgery is calling for the government to swiftly impose a fast-food tax as he backed NHS plans to offer more gastric surgeries to high-risk patients.
If he had lived he would have lost hundreds of pounds and regained his ability to walk and live a normal life, according to head surgeon Kesava Mannur who operated on Mr Martin at Homerton Hospital last year.Mr Mannur supports new NHS guidelines which encourage doctors to suggest weight-loss surgery for anyone with a BMI higher than 30 and type 2 diabetes.
That means up to two million people could be eligible – and if they all agreed to surgery it would cost the NHS £12billion.
In the wake of Chancellor George Osborne’s tax reform revelations in this week’s autumn statement, Mr Mannur said: “The government needs to make unhealthy fast food more expensive.
“Otherwise we’ll continue to see more and more people like Keith. In the past few years I have treated several people who weighed between 45 to 60 stone.
“In Keith’s case, it’s a shame because he’d had successful surgery despite being high-risk because of his size. It was unlucky he then caught pneumonia.
“Bariatric surgery can be a very good thing for the people who need it.
“We can’t ignore they are here and they need help. Once a patient hits a BMI of 30-35 it is extremely difficult for them to lose weight on their own. If they are not treated they can require a lot of medical help which can be very costly.
“If they can get the weight off they can improve their health and mobility and maybe contribute to society rather than being a burden.
“But the thing that does need to change quickly is how easy it is for people to access very cheap, unhealthy fast food.
“Society needs to do more to encourage children to be healthy from a young age. They need to learn early about physical activity and a healthy diet.
“People need access to gyms and outdoor spaces where they can walk and play while feeling safe. It will be much better for everyone in the long run.”
Before he died in March, unemployed Mr Martin admitted much of the weight had come from eating huge amounts of super-cheap fast food.
He would gorge on 20,000 calories a day – almost 10 times the recommended amount – having six-egg fry-ups for breakfast then pizzas, kebabs, Chinese takeaways and Big Macs for lunch and dinner all washed down with six pints of coffee and two litres of fizzy drinks.
He’d also snack on sandwiches, chocolate, crisps, sweets and biscuits.
Mr Mannur added: “Keith, like many people, had some emotional issues and he turned to food for comfort.