Over the course of his life he had reached nearly 600 kg, but he then halved his weight thanks to an intensive medical program
AND Juan Pedro Franco died in Mexicoat just 41 years of age. He was known for being recognized as the most obese man in the world in 2017. He was admitted to a hospital in the State of Aguascalientes: His condition deteriorated rapidly due to a kidney infection that led to systemic complications.
The attending physician, José Antonio Castaneda, confirmed the death, as reported by Daily Mail. According to what the specialist explained, in the days before his death Franco had developed a particularly complex clinical picturelinked to his long history of extreme obesity.
Guinness world record for most obese man in the world
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At the height of his weight, Juan Pedro Franco had almost weighed 600 kilos. His story had become public knowledge in 2017, when Guinness World Records certified him as the most obese living person in the worldweighing more than 590 kilograms. At the time it was almost completely immobilizedconfined to bed and unable to move independently.
In the same year he started a intensive medical course under the supervision of Castaneda: a controlled Mediterranean diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, followed by two bariatric surgeries — a sleeve gastrectomy and, subsequently, a gastric bypass. The combined treatment allowed him to lose about half his body weight and to walk again after years of immobility.
Juan Pedro Franco’s health problems after losing weight
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According to doctors, losing weight had significantly reduced the risk of complications related to diabetes and cardiovascular strainwhile leaving Franco in a condition of clinical vulnerability, the consequence of decades of severe obesity. In 2020 the man was also survived Covid-19, despite being considered an extremely high-risk patient.
His case had repeatedly been described as one of the most complex ever faced by the healthcare team. Castaneda had underlined how Franco’s willingness to openly talk about his difficulties had contributed to raise public awareness about obesitydefined as a chronic disease requiring ongoing, personalized, non-judgmental medical care.
The difficult path of Juan Pedro Franco
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“My body went its own way without any control,” Franco said. “I tried to diet day after day, but nothing worked, I was desperate.” After the start of treatment, however, the change was also tangible in everyday gestures: “Just being able to lift your arms, get up every day, pull yourself up to get a glass of water or go to the bathroom, makes you feel great. It’s great to be able to move more and be more self-sufficient.”
The death of Juan Pedro Franco closes a story that marked the medical and public debate on extreme obesity, bringing attention back to a complex pathologyoften stigmatized, but which requires structured and long-term clinical approaches.
La Gazzetta dello Sport
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