Weight Loss Surgery News Blog

Link: http://www.robertorizzi.com/co-morbidities.htm

American College of Surgeons reported on Sexual dysfunction that commonly occurs in morbidly obese men.

Sexual dysfunction should be considered one of the numerous potentially reversible complications of obesity, it improves after weight loss surgery, according to a new study.

The degree to which 97 morbidly obese men suffered from sexual dysfunction was measured and then analyzed the change in sexual function after substantial weight loss following gastric bypass surgery.

After losing an average of two thirds of their excess weight, men experienced significant improvements in sexual function, with the amount of weight loss predicting the degree of improvement.

Sexual function is an important aspect to quality of life and is now well documented to be a reversible condition.

Link: http://www.francoerizzi.com.br

The risk factors associated with overweight and obesity among adolescents enrolled in private high schools were studied in the city of Pelotas, Brazil.

The 1608 adolescents were weighed, measured and interviewed about food habits and physical activity at school. The parents provided their own weights and heights when contacted by telephone, and parental BMI was calculated.

The study showed that a family history of obesity, overweight during childhood and the habit of dieting for weight loss purposes are factors associated with obesity during adolescence.

The habit of having more than 3 daily meals turned out to be a protective factor against overweight. These results suggest the necessity for early intervention at the family and general community levels aimed at the prevention of obesity through actions directed towards the modification of established behaviours.

Source: CAB Abstracts

Link: http://www.robertorizzi.com/bmi.htm

Obesity surgery can reverse diabetes in teens, just as it does in adults.

Previous studies have shown the diabetes benefits of obesity surgery for adults.

According to a small study, the results are in the January issue of Pediatrics, all but one of the 11 extremely obese teens studied saw their diabetes disappear within a year after weight-loss surgery, the researchers reported. The 11th patient still had diabetes, but needed much less insulin.

About a third of U.S. youngsters are either overweight or obese. Increasing numbers of obese children are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease and the one linked to obesity.

Link: http://www.robertorizzi.com/obesity-surgery.htm

"Leptin" has been a hot word as a way to loose weight.

The connection between this hormone and weight loss was first discovered in 1994, researchers helped fat, overfed lab mice stay slim.

Humans, it turned out, were more complicated. When they lost weight, their bodies became stingier with calories consumed and more efficient in retaining existing weight.

Scientists at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City are now looking at the hormone as a possible weight-loss-maintenance drug.

They discovered through scans that brain activity in areas connected to restraint and control declines after weight loss. Hike leptin levels, however, and those brain areas become more active.

Researchers now see new possibilities for leptin in long-term weight control. So Leptin will be researched further in 2009! The fight against obesity will continue....

Link: http://www.robertorizzi.com/obesity-surgery-complications.htm

Death rates soon after "Obesity" or "Bariatric" surgery in Sweden are low, statistics show.

Deaths from any cause after weight loss surgery in Sweden using data from 14,768 bariatric procedures conducted between 1980 and 2005.

The early post-surgery death rate ranged from 0.2 percent at 30 days to 0.3 percent at 90 days, they report, with a 1-year cumulative death rate of 0.5 percent.

The 1-year cumulative death rate adjusted for age was higher for men (1.1 percent) than for women (0.4 percent) and higher for patients older than age 50 (1.2 percent) than for patients younger than age 50 (0.4 percent).

Including the entire follow-up period, the age-adjusted death rate was twice as high for men (100 per 10,000 persons per year) than for women (50 per 10,000 persons per year).

The most common causes of death during the first year after weight loss surgery were non-heart related, the investigators report, whereas the most common causes of late death were heart attack and cancer.

SOURCE: Annals of Surgery, November 2008.