'World's fattest man' set to have surgery to halve his weight

Juan Pedro Franco weighs 595kg (1312 pounds)

Picture: Juan Pedro Franco/ (AFP screengrab)

A Mexican man who weighs more than half a ton, 595kg, is to undergo surgery to reduce his size.

Believed to be the heaviest man in the world, 33-year-old Juan Pedro Franco has prepared for the operation by losing 175kg in a special weight-loss clinic.

His doctor, Jose Antonio Castaneda Cruz, said that he had “lost nearly 30 per cent of his initial weight, so he is ready to undergo bariatric surgery”.

When Mr Franco first contacted the clinic about a weight loss operation, he was told that the conditions he suffered from, including diabetes, made the operation impossible.

However, after following a rigorous weight loss program, he is ready to undergo the surgery.

According to local media, Mr Franco had been mostly bed-ridden for seven years, and though he battled with obesity all his life, an injury at the age of 17 exacerbated the problem.

About 72.5 per cent of Mexico's population is obese or overweight, one of the worst rates in the world.

The country is one of the biggest consumers of sugary drinks. The government imposed a tax on sweet drinks in 2014, which led to a 5.5 per cent drop in purchases in 2015, and a further 9.7 per cent decline in 2016.