Jumbo graves with jumbo pricetag for Brazil's obese

(MENAFN- AFP) A cemetery in Rio has come up with a solution for the obese departed -- jumbo-sized graves that can lay to rest bodies weighing up to 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds).

But the large graves carry a similarly hefty price tag of 75,000 reais (some $25,000).

Obesity is a growing problem in Brazil and Alberto Junior Brenner, curator of the Penitencia cemetery in Rio's port district, told G1 web news portal that he and his colleagues had created tombs measuring 260 centimeters (eight feet six inches) long, 130 centimeters wide and 60 centimeters high.

"Brazil is becoming a country of obese people. According to health ministry figures, the number of obese people rose by 50 percent over the past decade," said Brenner.

"The number of overweight people also rose by 23 percent over the same period. The Penitencia cemetery decided to respond to this demand."

The supersized graves are sold continuously and occupy their own section of the cemetery.

In March 2013, the government launched an obesity prevention campaign with the issue costing the country of some 200 million an estimated $250 million a year as the chronically overweight seek treatment.

In order to promote its campaign, the government also signed an agreement with the food industry to limit salt and sugar in foodstuffs.