HALLOWELL, Maine -- A Maine teenager who returned home from an exchange program after losing 60 pounds said he was starved by his host family.

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Jonathan McCullum’s family said he was in great health, weighing 155 pounds, when he left last fall to spend the school year as an exchange student in Egypt.

But when he returned to his Hallowell home just four months later, he weighed just 97 pounds. When his mother met him at the airport, he was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk for a heart attack.

McCullum said the family of Coptic Christians with whom he was staying denied him food. Coptic Christians fast for more than 200 days a year.

But McCullum said it was not about religion. Rather, he said, it reflected mean and stingy treatment by his host family.

"The weight loss concerned me, but I wanted to stick out the whole year," McCullum said.

McCullum said he never got breakfast and his first food of the day usually was a small piece of bread with cucumbers and cheese that he would take to school for lunch. Dinner consisted of beans, vegetables and sometimes fish.

After returning to Maine, he was hospitalized for nearly two weeks. The 17-year-old has gained about 20 pounds, but his parents said he's not the same boy who left home.

"He was outgoing, a straight-A student, very athletic. Now, he's less spontaneous and more subdued," said his mother, Elizabeth McCullum.

She was alerted to her son’s plight by a teacher who e-mailed that he was "in bad shape" and "really, really NEEDS to go home."

McCullum's parents said the AFS exchange program should have warned them that students placed with Coptic families would be subject to dietary restrictions.

The host father, Shaker Hanna, rejected McCullum's story as "a lie," suggesting that he made it up because his parents were hoping to recover some of the money they paid for his stay as compensation.

"The truth is, the boy we hosted for nearly six months was eating for an hour and a half at every meal. The amount of food he ate at each meal was equal to six people," Hanna said. He added that the boy was active, constantly exercising and playing sports.

Patricia Peard, a lawyer for AFS, said she could not comment on McCullum's case because of the potential for a lawsuit.

The McCullums are considering suing. "Someone needs to be held accountable, and I would like someone to say, 'I'm sorry,'" said the boy's father David McCullum.

Jonathan McCullum is recovering and has gone snowboarding with friends. He plans to return to school in the fall.

AFS, a nonprofit formerly known as American Field Service, is one of the largest and oldest organizers of student exchanges.