One of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide is obesity. This condition is not a petty problem of overeating; it is regarded as a chronic illness with complex and multiple health causes and consequences. Morbid obesity is commonly associated with progressive, severe and alarming diseases. It is a great contributor to high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and a many other serious ailments.

As the risks and diseases associated with morbid obesity are becoming rampant, people are looking for ways to slim down and improve their health. Although proper diet, exercise and diet pills are always regarded as the first line treatment, these conventional approaches of losing weight may not be effective for some. The whole arsenal of slimming techniques may sound simple enough, but what about those who have done everything to lose weight but still continue to struggle not to get to the end stage of obesity?

Solution for Weight Loss

An alternative solution is surgery. Bariatric surgery is a weight loss method which is regarded as a major gastrointestinal procedure wherein it alters the food intake capacity of the digestive organ of a person. It is an option for the extremely obese people who are prone to acquire serious health risk related to their degree of obesity. It is important to remember that bariatric surgery is not a cosmetic procedure. It is a weight loss surgery intended for persons who are at least 100 pounds above the estimated ideal body weight. In some lower weight cases, it is pre-determined by the physician if there is a sufficient medical need for weight reduction and if surgery seems to be the only way to accomplish this.

Types of Bariatric Surgery

Today, there are several variations of this surgical technique. The type of operation to be used is pre-determined by taking into considerations several factors such as age, initial weight, and ability to exercise. Bariatric weight loss surgery has two categories. The restrictive and malabsorptive procedure. Gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy is classified as a restrictive procedure wherein the surgeon will create a walnut size pouch in the stomach that will control the food intake of the patient and will most likely result to small meals thus overeating is avoided.

If in any case that the safer restrictive operation cannot produce the desired weight outcome that the surgeon and patient is trying to achieve they may turn into the malabsorptive procedure. This malabsorption technique which includes extensive bypass of the small intestine is rare and prone to higher risk of complications and side effects because of the lengthening of the bypassed bowel. This procedure reduces the stomach capacity and bypasses the upper part of the small intestine, causing a reduction in the number of calories and nutrients which the body absorbs. Alternatively, combined procedures can be done through gastric bypass and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. This combination reaps the benefit of lessening the absorption of calories and reducing the size of the stomach.

Risks of Weight Loss Surgery

According to the American Society For Bariatric Surgery, bariatric surgery is not an easy option for obese sufferers. It is a drastic step, and carries the usual pain and risks of any major gastrointestinal surgical operation. Statistics show that about one out of 200 or 300 surgeries results in death. That’s why, it is very important to discuss with your surgeon the possible risk, complications and side effects of the operation offered to you.

A need to lessen your food intake is a must after the surgery. Usually, physicians advise patients to gradually increase their amount of food for three months after bariatric surgery from nothing to a liquid diet to small meals. However, eating so little food never comes without side effects especially to those who are used to eat a lot.

Not a Quick Fix For Losing Weight

It is also very important to remember that bariatric surgery is not a quick fix. It is considered as ongoing journey and a lifetime commitment toward weight loss through lifestyle change. There are a lot of benefits of losing weight, and it is very important to consider the improvement of the quality of life that patients may experience after surgery. This is not all about losing the excess weight but trying to achieve a healthier body by avoiding the medical problems related to obesity.

With so many types of diet developed for weight loss, it is not unlikely to have diet methods that will earn criticisms and skepticism. Losing weight is a common problem for most people today and turning to different diet methods is an easy decision for some. Most of these diet methods claim to effectively reduce or control your weight but some can also give you undesirable side effects. The Atkins diet is one the popular methods used to lose weight but there are also a lot of people including health experts that warns people in adopting this diet plan.

The Blood Type diet is not spared from the scrutiny of the weight loss experts. They argued that the blood type diet was not scientifically proven as the study was conducted on test tubes not on actual environment. This could also increase the risk of getting other diseases because it is more focused on eating meat and fish while reducing the intake of grains and cereals. While for some people the blood type diet is an effective method in losing weight, experts says that it is normal because an individual has to follow a low calorie diet meals.

The reason why this diet method is an intriguing one was due to the theory of its proponent that people should eat foods that matches their blood type. According to Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo, the blood type has everything to do with how an individual digest food. It also affects an individual’s ability to respond to stress, mental state, the efficiency of metabolism, and the strength of the immune system. In his book “Eat Right For Your  Type” there are certain foods that should be avoided depending on your type of blood.

The doctor anchored his theory on evolution. He observed that the changes in environmental conditions and eating styles of our ancestors lead to the different blood types. In his study, a substance called lectin was causing agglutination for some people because there are some lectins that are not compatible with a particular blood type. Lectins are proteins commonly found in leguminous plants.

He later developed a food list specific for a blood type. Foods were grouped into 16 categories and he recommended certain foods for a particular blood type. According to him this will avoid health problems and will also help in weight loss. But critics are adamant if these recommendations by Dr. D’Adamo works. Experts say that lectins are usually destroyed by cooking and/or by digestive enzymes so its effects to the body are minimal (if there is). He also failed to include important factors such as rate of metabolism and sugar/insulin sensitivity of an individual. For example, there could be two people with the same type of blood but with different metabolisms.

Others argue that the Type O diet of Dr. D’Adamo could increase the risk of heart disease. In this diet plan, people are required to eat low-carbohydrate foods but high in proteins like meat and fish. Type A diet is focused more on eating fish and vegetables while avoiding red meat and dairies. If you have a Type B blood, you are lucky since you can eat a variety of foods and eating more fruits and vegetables is recommended. For Type AB diet, it is the combination of the A and B diets but D’Adamo suggests eating smaller and more frequent meals.

All of these diet plans should be coupled with regular exercises. Critics say that the weight loss effects could be due to the restricted calorie diet and not the result of a specific blood type. Eating healthy and living healthy is still the key in losing weight.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the latest survey showing a significant increase of obese people in the country. If there will be no actions or control measures to be taken, it could become a major problem which can lead to more expenditures on health related services. The number of obesity cases doubled in adults while children obesity has tripled in recent years according to Dr. Thomas Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Frieden obtained the data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) which is responsible in monitoring the health conditions and risk behaviors of the people in the United States every year. In just two years, the number of obese tripled in states having more than 30% obese residents. “Less than a decade ago, in 2000, not a single state had an obesity prevalence of 30 percent or higher,” the doctor told the AFP. However, the results of the survey revealed that the goal of reducing the obesity cases to at least 15% was not successful even if health officials urged every state to help manage the problem.

In the BRFSS data, the national obesity rate climbed up to 27 percent last year. Only 1.1 percent was added to the previous statistics but if converted to actual number of people, it will reach to 2.4 million of obese people for last year alone. The method used by BRFSS in collecting data is based on self reporting while the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) weighs and measures the participants. Dr. Frieden explained that the different rate of obesity between the two surveys was due to different methods used. The NHANES reported that the obesity rate is already at 34%.

People should be concerned on their weight because it can lead to other health problems and complications such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. It can also lead to more deaths according to Frieden. It was estimated that medical cost related to obesity reached $147 billion in 2008. “That translates into medical costs for people who are obese that were 1,429 higher per person each year compared to normal-weight individuals,” said Frieden.

A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine also showed that the number of obese adults in the country increased to 90 percent in almost 2 decades. In 1993, obesity rate is only estimated at 14% but in 2008 it climbed to 27%. Another significant finding of the study is the increase in the number of people dying younger and suffering from obesity related diseases. The quality years of life was also reduced to 68 percent for people who are obese. Although there are a lot of medications such as weight loss pills and other methods of losing weight, it has little effect on lowering the prevalence of obesity.

As long as people adopt an unhealthy lifestyle, the rate of obesity will continue to rise. According to Bill Dietz, director of the CDC’s division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, the shift on high-calorie foods and reduced opportunities for physical activity contributes to the higher rate of obesity. He also said that this problem is not unique to Americans. “We have a very high prevalence but a couple of years ago I compared the rate of rise of obesity in women in the UK versus women in the United States. The curves were parallel,” he said.