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OBESITY SURGERY AND METABOLIC SYNDROME

There’s new evidence that obesity surgery, which helps people lose weight provides significant health benefits that could prolong life and improve quality of life. The study was done in Taiwan, and looked at obese patients in a surgical weight loss program.
The study found the operation not only improves outward looks, but also markedly improves mental well being also.

Alan Kerner has battled obesity for years. At his heaviest he weighed nearly 300 pounds. “I’m a food-aholic. My poison of choice was food, but unfortunately because of the diabetes climbing and the other associated issues I was literally eating myself towards an early death.”
Desperate to lose weight and improve his diabetes and overall health, Alan opted for gastric bypass surgery. “Going into the surgery at that particular time, my big concern was the blood sugar because of the various problems associated with diabetes and obesity, kidney problems, and other associated medical problems like hypertension,” states Alan.
Obese patients like Alan are at risk for a cluster of diseases known as metabolic syndrome. It includes risks for cardiovascular disease e.g. hypertension, high cholesterol, along with diabetes.
According to the October issue of the Archives of Surgery, obese patients who underwent weight loss surgery had significant reductions in the components of metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Mitchell Roslin, a bariatric surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, says, “A gastric bypass perhaps will save more lives than a coronary artery bypass grafting. We’ve known for a long time that weight loss surgery will get people to lose weight. We’ve known that their medical problems improve.”
Gastric bypass promotes weight loss by restricting food intake and in some operations, interrupting the digestive process.
In the study 645 morbidly obese patients were enrolled in a surgical weight loss program and were followed up one year after their surgeries. In patients with metabolic syndrome, there was a substantial reduction in blood pressure and blood glucose, triglycerides and total cholesterol.
“We know that diabetes is a deadly disease. We know that hypertension can be a deadly disease, and we know that high cholesterol, all these things are risk factors for stroke, heart attacks and sudden death. It’s only logical that if you ameliorate the symptoms you’d improve healthcare outcomes,” says Dr. Roslin.
More than half of obese patients enrolled in the surgical program have metabolic syndrome. However, weight loss surgery cures the problem in more than 95% of cases.
With his diabetes in check, Alan says, he’s 100% committed to keeping the weight off. “I do enjoy walking, I do enjoy biking, I wasn’t able to do that earlier,” says Alan.

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