After surgery, Eman on high-protein liquid diet
After her first major weight-loss surgery on Thursday, Eman Ahmed, reportedly the world’s heaviest woman, has been put on a high-protein liquid diet.
Eman, who arrived in Mumbai a month ago, has already lost nearly 122kg. Doctors from Saifee Hospital said that post the oneand-half laparoscopic sleeve gastrostomy surgery — which involves removing a part of the stomach to reduce the patient’s appetite — on March 7, her diet will now play an integral role in helping her lose weight. Eman’s nutritionist Carlyne Remedios, from the 13-member expert team, has charted a high-protein liquid diet for her.
Eman’s nutritional needs are administered through a feeding tube.
“We are maintaining a frequency of 200ml feeds every two hours, for 18 hours a day, starting 6am,” said a hospital official. Doctors added that the protein supplement includes 200ml unflavored soya-milk, that comes up to about 200grms of proteins every day. The protein intake is subjective for women and men as the need is 0.8gms protien for every kilogram of their weight. Experts said that an average woman needs about 46grms of protein on a daily basis.
She is most likely to return to Alexandria, her home, in two to three weeks and will continue the diet for some time.
“Keeping in mind her daily calorie requirements, Eman is fed 45ml medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil along with the feeds. MCTS are known as man-made fat, which is generally made by processingcoconutandpalmkernel oil in the laboratory,” the doctors added. Eman is getting about 1,750kcal every day, which is on a par with the average calorie intake of a woman — 1600200Kcal. Her diet at home primarily consisted of a couple of chicken sandwiches and custard.
Doctors are still waiting for Eman’s genetic study reports, which could ascertain if certain altercations in her genes are responsible for her weight gain. She weighed nearly 500kg when she arrived in Mumbai. Doctors had suspected that her obesity is linked to one or multiple genes of the 91 which are known to be connected to obesity. Her blood reports are normal and kidney functions have improved drastically during her stay at the hospital.