Researachers from Harvard and MIchigan have concluded that the health consequences of obesity in our population will offset the health gains made by a significant reduction in smoking in our population.  The conclusion in this study was that the increase in life expectancy that our population should experience as a result of decreasing smoking behavior, will be reduced because of the dramatic increase in obesity.  Alarmingly, if past trends continue, nearly half of our population-45 percent- will be obese by the year 2020.

A recent study published in the Journal of The American College of Surgeons demonstrated a link between obesity and certain cancers in women.  The group from The University of VIrginia concluded that morbidly obese women who had undergone bariatric surgery had less cancers than a similar group of women that had not undergone weight loss surgery.  The most common types of cancers found in these  morbidly obese women were endometrial (uterine), breast, and ovarian cancers.

The Cochrane Collaboration recently concluded that bariatric surgery is more effective than conventional weight loss management in terms of weight loss, improvement in weight related medical conditions, and in improved quality of life. 

The goal of the group’s analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of various weight loss surgery techniques compared with non-surgical weight loss methods.  Included in this comparison were patients who were moderately obese as defined by a body mass index between 30-35.  Gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding (Lap-Band), sleeve gastrectomy and vertical banded gastroplasty procedures were reviewed in this analysis.

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to provide high quality evidence for healthcare decision making around the world.

 

 

A dramatic study, published in the British Medical Journal, revealed that teens with obesity had a similar risk of premature death as those who smoked half a pack of cigarretes a day.  In this study, nearly 46,000 Swedish men were followed over 38 years.  The men who were obese at age 18 were two times more likely to die by age 60 compared to men who were of normal weight.  This was about the same risk faced by the normal weight men who smoked half a pack of cigarettes or more a day. 

Given that smoking is known to be the most important cause of preventable death,  it is quite dramatic that obesity is apparently as lethal. 

There has been a glaring omission in the Clinical Practice Recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), until now.   Despite numerous studies over the past decade that have shown how effective weight loss surgery is in managing diabetes, surgery has not been included in the ADA recommendations.  This changed in Jan. 2009 when a section on bariatric surgery was added to the “Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes.”  The ADA recommendations were consistent with NIH guidelines that adults with BMI greater than 35 and type 2 diabetes should be considered for weight loss surgery. 

This recognition is long overdue and finally brings the ADA in line with well designed studies published in both surgical and medical literature.