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.