Half-Ton Mexican Man Dies After Pleading For Help

Fianceé helped Uribe trim 550 lbs. off record weight of 1,230

(NEWSER) - Manuel Uribe, once the world's heaviest man, is being swept away to the chapel—quite literally. The 43-year-old will be towed through the streets to his Oct. 26 wedding in Monterrey, Mexico, on a customized bed, reports the AP. More»

Elevated altitudes stimulate weight loss in the obese

(NEWSER) - Slimming down without diet or exercise may be as easy as relaxing for a few weeks in the Swiss Alps. A new study found that 20 obese men who spent two weeks at a mountain facility 8,700 feet above sea level—but were forbidden to exercise and could eat whatever they wanted—lost an average of 3.3 pounds, and had kept it off four weeks after returning to sea level. More»

Experts weigh in on whether reality show has gone too far

(NEWSER) - The Biggest Loser is getting bigger each year: Next season, 526-pound Michael Ventrella will be the show’s largest contestant ever. Though wanting to help people shed pounds is a good thing, the show seems exploitative when it uses “heaviest ever” to promote itself. PopEater rounds up media experts’ thoughts.

• Matthew Greenberg, True/Slant: “Of course NBC and Biggest Loser are exploiting the contestants. All reality programming is, at some level, based on exploitation.”

Is ban discrimination on the overweight?

(NEWSER) - If your BMI is over 35, Citizens Medical Center in Texas won't hire you. The hospital policy, instituted last year but getting some attention thanks to a recent article in the Texas Tribune , requires that potential employees not be obese. (For reference, a 5'5" person would have to weigh less than 210 pounds.) Why? The hospital wants employee physiques to "fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the job of a healthcare professional." More»

Compounds may fight weight gain

(NEWSER) - Sweet news: People who regularly eat chocolate tend to be thinner, scientists have discovered. Of 1,000 subjects studied, those who ate chocolate a few times a week were on average slimmer than those who only ate it occasionally, reports the BBC . Frequency of eating chocolate appeared to be more important than amount consumed, and the link held even when taking different rates of exercise into account. Chocolate is high in calories, but may contain ingredients that somehow promote weight loss, or at least stave off weight gain, researchers speculate. More»