| OBESITY
TREATMENT OVERVIEW |
|
| What do the
medical experts say ? |
| The
National Institutes of Health has held three conferences on
surgery for severe obesity in the past 15 years. At the most
recent conference, the panel of experts concluded that "reduced
life expectancy and significant psychosocial and economic
problems are experienced by severely obese people." They
went on to say: "Limited success has been achieved with a
variety of nonsurgical approaches including medically supervised
dieting. Diet alone cannot be considered a reasonable option for
permanent weight loss. Drug therapy for clinically severe
obesity has been disappointing." |
| The panel
endorsed two surgical treatments for obesity: gastric bypass
and adjustable gastric banding, noting that "significant
weight loss usually occurs and a number of associated
disorders (such as diabetes and hypertension, etc) often
improve." |
| |
