Surgery Better Than Diet, Exercise In Fat Young People
1. Severely overweight youths who had surgery to limit what
they could eat lost more weight and enjoyed more health
benefits than those who did a radical way of life
program, researchers asserted recently. They said 21 of 25
seriously overweight kids aged 14 to 18 who underwent a
type of gastric banding lost over fifty percent of their
excess weight compared to just 3 out of 25 who did a
diet, exercise and behavior modification programme.
2. "In this study, gastric banding proved to be an effective
intervention leading to a significant and sturdy reduction
in obesity and to better health," Dr. Paul O'Brien of
Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and comrades
wrote in the Journal of the North American Medical
Association.
3. O'Brien and colleagues evaluated the usefulness of
Allergan Inc's Lap-Band stomach banding treatment. The
procedure involves wrapping an adaptable band around
the top of the belly, giving the patient the semblance of
fullness with little meals.
4. Weight which influences just about a third of U.S. Kids, has
turned into a top White House priority with the statement
on Tues. of President Barack Obama's plan to solve infant
obesity inside a generation. Many studies have looked at
the safety and efficacy of weightloss surgery, or bariatric
surgery, in overweight adults, there is however less
evidence of its safety and efficacy in youngsters and
youths. Stomach banding is a sort of bariatric surgery. The
surgery is becoming more and more popular as
overweight people struggle to lose weight and avoid the
health problems that go with the additional pounds — like
diabetes, coronary disease, joint pain and some cancers.
5. Youths in the O'Brien team's study had a body mass
index of more than 35 and were assigned to either get the
surgery or do a weight loss program. The team followed
their progress for 2 years. BMI is equal to weight in
kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5
feet 5 inches tall with a BMI of 40 would weigh more than
240 pounds (109 kg). After two years, those in the
stomach banding group had lost an average of 28.3
percent of total body weight and 78.8 percent extra
weight.
6. Those in the approach to life group lost a median 3.1 p.c of
their total weight and 13.2 percent of their extra weight.
Surgery also helped eliminate metabolic syndrome, a
grouping of related abnormalities like body weight
problems high cholesterol, high blood pressure and
aberrant blood glucose. At the start of the study, 36
percent of those in the gut banding group and 40 percent
in the lifestyle group had metabolic syndrome. After two
years, not one of the gastric banding patients had
metabolic syndrome compared with 22 p.c of those in the
life-style group.
7. Doctor. Edward Livingston of the Varsity of Texas
Southwestern Surgery in Dallas and a contributing editor
to the book, claimed the results offer more strong proof
on the use of bariatric surgery as a treatment for obesity
in young people.
8. "The quality of proof supporting bariatric surgery is
poor, leading to substantial squabble pertaining to its use
for obesity treatment," Livingston wrote in a
commentary.
9. "Many insurance firms in the United States will not pay
for bariatric surgeries, and their decision to not cover this
treatment is based on the lack of fascinating generally
acknowledged proof in its favor," he wrote.