General Obesity Discussion
It is important to realize that obesity is a disease.
Many doctors do not realize this and you may have been
treated in the past as if your problem with weight is
all your fault. In many ways obesity has become the
last bastion of prejudice. Science however has shown
that there is definitely a genetic influence on your
weight. Of course, the environment plays an important
role too.
It is important to realize that obesity is a serious
illness. The Surgeon General has estimated that
265,000 deaths per year are due to obesity related
illness and that figure is rising. It turns out that
fat actually secretes substances that are harmful to
your health causing or exacerbating diabetes,
hypertension, increasing cholesterol, causing sleep
apnea, reflux, asthma, coronary artery disease, vein
problems, urinary incontinence, depression,
infertility, fatty liver, gallstones, headaches, and
arthritis.
In fact there are several studies which have shown
that being obese not only affects the quality of your
life but also substantially lowers your life expectancy. The media always talks about the risk of death with gastric bypass surgery BUT did you |
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know that if you are morbidly obese you have a higher risk of dying if you DO NOT have weight loss surgery. An excellent study in Canad followed obese patients who both had and did not have weight loss surgery. It turns out that 20 years later the people who had weight loss surgery had an 89% reduction in the risk of dying during that 20 year period. There are also many studies showing that weight loss surgery can cure or at least alleviate diabetes, high blood pressure, reflux, and most if not all of the comorbidities listed above.
The National Institute for Health had many experts
from many fields study the problem of obesity. They concluded that obesity is a serious illness.
Unfortunately they found that diet and exercise are
not very effective at alleviating this illness. As
you may know diets fail eventually in 97% of people. However, the NIH recognized that surgery was an effective and safe treatment for morbid obesity.
For more information search the links below, but
please come to our free information seminars the 2nd and 3rd Wednesdays of every month. We go over the surgery in details and provide you with hand outs.
To find out more about Gastric Bypass click here.
To find out more about Gastric Band click here.
Do I qualify and what do I do now?
Read a history of weight loss surgery from the American Society of Bariatric Surgery. |
