“Listen, if you’re one hundred pounds overweight at age fifty, you have the same mortality rate as if you have a solid cancer. Would you operate for cancer? Yeah. So if you cannot lose that weight, get one of these procedures.”
USA Today recently reported on Dr. Oz’s advocacy of gastric bypass surgery, and stance that is causing quite a bit of buzz.
The subject of gastric bypass is a sensitive one. It’s risky and it’s not always supported as a wise choice by doctors. In Dr. Oz’s interview he made bold statements in support of bypass surgery. While his take is more bold and direct in it’s delivery than most, is he alone in his beliefs? Experts weigh in.
Dr. James Early, M.D. is the Medical Director of Via Christi Weight Management in Wichita, KS. He also was a collaborator with Dr. Oz on his book You on a Diet. On a daily basis, Dr. Early is dealing with over weight and obese patients and their struggles in health. While he did agree with Dr. Oz’s stance, he was clear to express that, “it’s very important that each patient is individually assessed.”
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Gastric bypass is the most popular weight loss surgery around. It’s proven to be safe and effective in the vast majority of people who opt for it. However, there’s another weight loss surgery on the scene referred to as duodenal switch that is getting some attention, but not all for good reasons.
According to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine the lesser-known surgery offers superior weight loss, but it also is a higher long-term health risk.
Following 60 severely obese patients, researchers had the subjects of the study randomly assigned to have gastric bypass surgery or the more involved procedure known as duodenal switch.
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Many who have struggled with their weight for a lifetime look to weight loss surgery methods like gastric bypass or the lap-band procedure to solve their weight problems. While these types of surgeries are successful for some people, many others still struggle after their operation.
For those with underlying psychological food issues, weight loss surgery can trigger other eating disorders. According to a 2007 Harvard study, 60 percent of all individuals seeking surgical treatment for obesity suffer from an eating disorder, usually binge eating. Those that have a previously unhealthy relationship with food and their body are at a higher risk of succumbing to other eating disorders after their operation.
Lap band and gastric bypass surgeries don’t typically create an eating disorder if there wasn’t previously one there. The major problem is that some who have these unhealthy food relationships have either left them untreated, or been unsuccessful in treatment prior to surgery. For binge eaters, the body cannot physically handle binge eating after surgery.
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Bariatric weight loss surgery is on the rise every year in America. Between 200,000 and 250,000 adults receive bariatric surgery annually. A smaller statistic that seems to carry more weight is the fact that about 1,000 American teenagers received some sort of weight loss surgery last year and the number is increasing every day.
The most common types of bariactric procedures are gastric bypass, gastric banding, and sleeve gastrectomy, and all involve surgery which is very risky, especially for teenagers.
While some of the risks for post-op teenagers come from the surgery itself, other risks come from the ability of the patient to follow rules. Since the procedures limit the amount of food one can eat, malnutrition is a very serious threat, made worse for teenagers who are still developing and need those nutrients for proper growth. Because of the risk of malnutrition, most patients are required to be on a strict vitamin regimen for the rest of their lives to ensure the body receives the vital elements it can no longer obtain from food.
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LAP-Band surgery is not a guarantee of weight loss, but new research shows that the number of post-operative adjustments can greatly impact a patient’s success. Conducted by David A. Nguyen, B.A., Grace J. Kim, B.A. and Carson D. Liu, M.D. of Skylex Advanced Surgical practice in California, the study analyzed the medical records of over 600 LAP-Band patients.
“For the patients who are able to make it back to their surgeon’s office, the adjustments are the key answer to continuing weight loss,” Dr. Carson Liu told DietsInReview in an interview.
The LAP-Band creates a small pouch at the top of the stomach, which allows patients to feel full after eating a small amount, roughly a half cup of food. The contents of this upper compartment then slowly pass through the band’s opening and are digested normally. “Once patients start to lose 30 to 40 pounds, a lot of the fat that is around the stomach and within the stomach wall is burned off, and they need to have that band filled,” said Dr. Liu. Each time the band is adjusted, it’s filled with a saline solution of isotonic salt water, tightening the opening.
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