Five-year-old Can’t Stop Eating

Suman Khatun is eating herself to death, according to her doctor.  The five-year-old from West Bengal weighs in at nearly 168 pounds, despite her average height.  And the stress of her insatiable hunger is taking its toll on her family.

Her mother, Belly Bibi, tells the UK Telegraph:

“We can not feed ourselves or our other two children, let alone ourselves.  When she is not fed she cries, shouts, screams and has even thrown rocks at us. We give her four square meals a day and two small lunches, but this is never enough. She is our daughter and we have no choice but to feed her.”

Suman’s doctor — who’s seen Suman since she was three months old–  is convinced that the child suffers from a pituitary disorder, but doesn’t have the ability to diagnose the disease himself.  In the meantime, Suman eats up most of the family’s food budget — including two dozen eggs, 22 pounds of rice.  And when she doesn’t get her fill at home, she wanders around the neighbourhood, begging for food.

Here’s Suman in front of what, presumably, is a typical meal (possibly staged for dramatic effect).

Photo: Telegraph.co.uk