For decades, patients sought obesity cures from doctors, dietitians and other health care professionals. Usually the only weight loss advice was the following:
- Move around more
- Stop eating so much
- Take diet pills
But for most people suffering with obesity, medications and lifestyle changes never worked, and obesity continued to carry a negative stigma of its own. Today, we know differently. We know that obesity is a disease that can lead to serious health problems because of the adipose tissue or “sick fat.” That’s why more obesity specialists are recommending bariatric surgery, including gastric bypass or gastric sleeve, to cure obesity and change the inflammatory and metabolic profile of the patient.
Is Bariatric Surgery a Cure for Obesity?
Bariatric surgery effectively reduces body weight and treats obesity-associated metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. Of course, there are many other benefits for the patient undergoing bariatric surgery, including increased activity, a better quality of life and improved psychological health.
Here’s how bariatric surgery works to help manage obesity:
- Reduces the amount of food your stomach can hold, which lowers the number of calories your body takes in.
- Changes the levels of certain hormones and the way the brain responds to these hormones to control hunger urges.
The result? Post-surgery bariatric patients are less interested in eating and experience dramatic weight loss and a lower risk of chronic illness.
Bariatric Surgery Improves Obesity-Related Health Conditions
Here’s how bariatric surgery improves metabolic disease associated with obesity:
- Initial short-term fasting and reduced calorie intake
- Rerouting of food and nutrition in the stomach and intestines
- Positive changes in hormone and immune system responses in the stomach and intestinal tract
- Decrease in "sick fat," also called adipose tissue
If you are overweight or obese, talk with a bariatric or obesity physician to see if bariatric surgery can help you make lifelong changes to effectively manage your obesity and give you a higher quality of life and better health. This health care professional will explore available options, evaluate your health and help you make a life-changing decision.
Sources
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: Treatment.
Journal of Clinical Pathology: Bariatric Surgery: A Best Practice Article.
International Journal of Clinical Practice: Adipposopathy and bariatric surgery: Is ‘sick fat’ a surgical disease?
World Journal of Gastroenterology: New obesity classification criteria as a tool for bariatric surgery indication.