ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Autopsy Shows What The Inside Of An Obese Person Looks Like

Autopsy Shows What The Inside Of An Obese Person Looks Like

I'll warn you now, it's not pretty...

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay

WARNING: SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND THESE IMAGES DISTRESSING

We all know that obesity is not a good thing. It is extremely detrimental to your health. It's just like being far too slim - the body needs a happy medium.

But what exactly does obesity make your insides look like?

Well, a groundbreaking documentary from the BBC has filmed an autopsy on an obese woman to show the damage that it does to your insides. Obesity: The Post Mortem aims to highlight just how different you can look inside as a result of being obese.

The woman featured is 5ft5" and weighs 17 stone. For her height, this is classed as morbidly obese.

As they perform the autopsy, one of the doctors described slicing through her fat like "butter with a mesh going through it."

Technical curator at the museum of pathology at Queen Mary University, Carla Valentine, picked up on the large reserves of fat around the woman's stomach.

She said: "I needed a lot more strength to cut through the tissue, which kind of bloomed out in neon yellow."

Conducting the autopsy was leading pathologist Mike Osborn. While describing the heart, he said: "The heart feels baggy. When you pick up the heart of someone fit it would be tight and hard - like picking up a piece of steak. This is more like a bag.

"The heart has to pump to keep up the pressure but there comes a point when the heart can't get any bigger and it exhausts itself.

"This heart has gone from a thick muscle to a paper bag that is not able to pump blood around the body."


The woman's heart.

Moving onto the liver, the doctors described it as being like pâté. Dr Osborn said: "The first thing I saw in the liver marked 'fatty change'.

"It was pinky, soft, like pâté. A normal liver is quite soft but not as soft and is much more meaty - the pink in this liver is the fat."


Her liver.

Apparently, the woman had not really been a big drinker when she was alive. Therefore this damage was most likely down to diet.

The team also looked at her lungs. They were leaking fluid which was a result of her heart failure that ultimately killed her.

According to Dr Osborn, as the heart fails, liquid backs up in the lungs, which tragically would have given this woman the sensation of drowning.


Her lungs. Credit: BBC

If you want to watch the full show, you can do by streaming it on BBC Three from Tuesday 13 September.

Featured image credit: BBC

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: British, BBC

Choose your content: