Effectiveness of surgery

Weight loss
In general, the malabsorptive procedures lead to more weight loss than the restrictive procedures however, have a higher risk profile. A meta-analysis from University of California, Los Angeles reports the following weight loss at 36 months:
Biliopancreatic diversion - 53 kg
• Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) - 41 kg
o Open - 42 kg
o Laparoscopic - 38 kg
• Adjustable gastric banding - 35 kg
• Vertical banded gastroplasty - 32 kg
More recent studies have demonstrated that the medium (3–8 years) and long term (>10 years) weight loss results for RYGB and LAGB become very similar. However, the range of excess weight loss for LAGB patients (25% to 80%) is much broader than that of RYGB patients (50% to 70%). Data (beyond 5 years) for Sleeve Gastrectomy is not yet available (as of 12/09).

Reduced mortality and morbidity
Several recent studies report decrease in mortality and severity of medical conditions after bariatric surgery. But long term effects are not clear. In the Swedish prospective matched controlled trial, patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 34 or more for men and 38 or more for women underwent various types of bariatric surgery and were followed for an average of 11 years. Surgery patients had a 23.7% reduction in mortality (5.0% vs. 6.3% control, adjusted hazard ratio 0.71). This means 75 patients must be treated to avoid one death after 11 years (number needed to treat is 77).

In a Utah retrospective cohort study that followed patients for an average of 7 years after various types of gastric bypass, surgery patients had 0.4% mortality while control patients had 0.6% mortality. Death rates were lower in the gastric bypass patients for all diseases combined, as well as for diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Deaths from accident and suicide were 58% higher in the surgery group.
A randomized, controlled trial in Australia compared laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding ("lap banding") with non-surgical therapy in 80 moderately obese adults (BMI 30-35). At 2 years, the surgically-treated group lost more weight (21.6% of initial weight vs. 5.5%) and had statistically significant improvement in blood pressure, measures of diabetic control, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.. Post surgical complications included 1 patient with an infected surgical site, 4 with lap band malpositioning requiring laparoscopic revision, and 1 patient with cholecystitis. In the non-surgical group, 12 patients declined or did not tolerate orlistat or diet restrictions, and 4 patients developed acute
cholecystitis.
Bariatric surgery in older patients has also been a topic of debate, centered on concerns for safety in this population. One study of elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center, however, reported 0% conversion to open surgery, 0% 30-day mortality, 7.3% complication rate, and average hospital stay of 2.8 days. post operative mortality from 0.1 - 2 %
Laparoscopic bariatric surgery requires a hospital stay of only one or two days. Short-term complications from laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding are reported to be lower than laparoscopic Roux-en-Y surgery, and complications from laparoscopic Roux-en-Y surgery are lower than conventional (open) Roux-en-Y surgery.

Adverse effects

Complications from weight loss surgery are frequent. A study of insurance claims of 2522 who had undergone bariatric surgery showed 21.9% complications during the initial hospital stay and a total of 40% risk of complications in the subsequent six months. This was more common in those over 40 and led to increased health care expenditure. Common problems were gastric dumping syndrome in about 20% (bloatedness and diarrhoea after eating, necessitating small meals or medication), leaks at the surgical site (12%), incisional hernia (7%), infections (6%) and pneumonia (4%). Mortality was 0.2%. As the rate of complications appears to be reduced when the procedure is performed by an experienced surgeon, guidelines recommend that surgery is performed in dedicated or experienced units.

Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Guide

Bariatric surgery, or weight loss surgery, includes a variety of procedures performed on people who are obese.
"Patients should be referred to high-volume centers with surgeons experienced in bariatric surgery."

Classification of surgical procedures
Predominantly malabsorptive procedures
Predominantly malabsorptive procedures, although they also reduce stomach size, these operations are based mainly on creating malabsorption.

Biliopancreatic diversion
This complex operation is termed biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) or the Scopinaro procedure. Far fewer surgeons perform BPD compared to other weight loss surgeries, in part because of the need for long-term nutritional follow-up and monitoring of BPD patients.

Bariatric Surgery Overview

Bariatric Surgery is a procedure performed on people who are dangerously obese, for the purpose of losing weight. This surgery is performed on the stomach and intestine causing a reduction of the patient's food intake. Results from this obesity surgery are significant long-term weight loss, recovery from diabetes, improvement in cardiovascular risk factors, and a reduction in mortality. The National Institutes of Health recommend bariatric surgery for obese people with a BMI of at least 40, and for people with BMI 35 and serious coexisting medical conditions such as diabetes.


Introduction to Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery
Bariatric surgery is a term derived from the Greek words: weight and treatment. Some bariatric procedures are performed using general anesthesia via a midline abdominal incision. Currently, most obesity clinics and bariatric centers favor the Lap Band adjustable gastric banding procedure and the Proximal Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Obesity experts estimate that patients undergoing gastric bypass and gastric bands will exceed 175,000 in 2007.

Bariatric Surgery: Lose Weight Fast and Keep it Off
Bariatric surgery can change these individuals from sad statistics to healthy, happy survivors.

Junk Food Diet

Junk foods are typically ready-to-eat convenience foods containing high levels of saturated fats, salt, or sugar, and little or no fruit, vegetables, or dietary fiber; junk foods thus have little or no health benefits.
Twinkies, Oreos, and Doritos—the new weight-loss diet? Well, a steady stream of junk food worked for Mark Haub, a Kansas State University nutrition professor who, after two months, shed a hefty 27 pounds, CNN reports. Haub went from ingesting 2,600 calories a day to 1,800. "I'm losing weight and my cholesterol is improving by eating those foods," Haub told Dubansky.

Slideshow: Healthy Junk Food
Haub said before the diet, he was eating up to 3,000 calories a day and weighed 201 pounds.

“Some people, like health care professionals, are saying my weight loss is unhealthy.”
“This diet is based on refined, processed foods that lack essential vitamins and nutrients, as well as antioxidants and fiber,” she said. This junk food diet may help you shed a few pounds, but ultimately can reduce your chances for longevity.”
Haub said the weight loss wasn’t his initial concern – he wanted to focus on issues like cardiovascular markers, but he is pleased with the results.

About Twinkie Diet

A nutrition expert has taken a very unorthodox path towards weight loss and cholesterol reduction: he's on an all-junk food diet. Breakfast consists of a snack cake such as a Twinkie, sugary cereal with milk, and coffee. Haub is trying to find out whether weight loss by a seemingly unhealthy means is still healthy overall.

Haub asks.
Haub is consuming fewer calories than he would need to maintain his pre-study weight, which is likely the reason his junk food diet is working.
Haub isn't advocating for the Twinkie diet just yet, however.
"I think there are many ways to achieve weight loss, this might be one if it suits somebody's lifestyle," Haub said.

Dr. Mark Haub, who teaches nutrition at Kansas State University, might say the latter. His working theory is that moderation, not the specific foods you eat, is the key to weight loss. High triglyceride levels are associated with heart disease.
Haub also reduced his LDL cholesterol - the "bad" kind - by 20 percent. That his health improved on his questionable diet does not surprise Dawn Blatner, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Before, she points out, Haub said he was eating a healthy diet - but he was eating a lot. What does Haub think of the diet?
The calorie cut accounts for the weight loss, but what's interesting is that his LDL (bad cholesterol) dropped and HDL (the good kind) increased.

Looks Older than Age Signs Unhealthy?

A fresh face and look younger than actual age is often seen as vibrant health. So, if the person whose face looked older means her body is not healthy? Not really turns out.

When you see one or two years older than actual age, you are still including healthy. Unlike the case if your face looks 10 years older than the age. "The doctor was able to guess a person's health status from the face. Only those who looks 10 years older who belong to poor health," said Dr.Stephen Hwang, researchers from Canada.

From his research, 99 percent of people who look 10 years older than it actually has physical and mental health is bad. Research conducted on 126 people aged 30-70 years.

The respondents in this study examined health and portraits of respondents was given to 58 doctors to guess how old the respondents. The doctors will also tell the health condition of the respondents.

Apparently the doctors were not able to predict the health status of patients whose face looks 5 years older than actual age. However, physicians accurately knowing the health status of people who look older than 10 years.

"Doctors do sometimes make a health assessment of the patient's face. But they can not tell people who look younger must be healthy and people who look older have the disease," he said.
Kompas.com

Orange Juice, Uric Acid Disease Risk

Diseases of uric acid (gout) is mostly experienced by men. However, it does not mean women are free from diseases that can cause joint pain. One factor that could increase the risk of this is the habit of drinking two glasses of orange juice every day.
In addition to orange juice, canned sweet drinks also have the same risk if taken twice a day. The researchers from Boston University said, drink a high sugar content of fruit or fructose can cause uric acid deposits that build up in the joints and cause pain.

The study was conducted by 80 000 women followed the diet for 22 years. Those who drank two glasses of orange juice every day at risk of 40 percent exposed to uric acid. Meanwhile, the consumption of the drink is more than twice the risk increased 2.4 times.

Beverage cans are high in sugar, such as soft drinks, also has a high risk of developing gout, which is 70 percent. Therefore, the researchers recommend for fans of sweet drinks start reducing these habits.

To avoid the disease are advised to reduce uric acid foods containing purine compounds, such as spinach, kale, cauliflower, mushrooms, asparagus, melinjo, meat, sardines, organ meats, crab, oysters, shrimp, and peanuts.

In addition to its dietary factors, increased production of uric acid in the blood can also be due to blood disease (bone marrow disease, polycythemia), drugs (alcohol, cancer drugs, vitamin B12), other causes are obesity, skin diseases (psoriasis, levels of high triglycerides).

Magic Powder Make Stomach Quickly satiety

Magic Powder Make Stomach Quickly satiety - This is good news for you who have problems with weight. The experts from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, United States, has successfully developed a kind of crystalline powder that can help reduce weight in a way affects the brain and stop the appetite.

Crystalline powder was quite sown on top of the food and the aroma will be inhaled. In an instant, your stomach will feel full, even after eating only a couple of bites.

Crystal weight loss options available with some type of smell or taste like cheese, coffee, and radish. Crystal called Sensa is already available in some health food stores in America and soon be marketed in the UK, Canada, Mexico, and Germany.

In the study for six months on more than 1,400 volunteers shows, these crystals can reduce the average weight of about 13 kilograms in obese patients. However, further research on these crystals have also been conducted over the past five years involving 1000 participants.

The experts claim, this crystalline powder will give long-term benefits, unlike other methods of weight loss. Dr. Alan Hirsch, neurological who developed this crystal, say, the smell of food - which is estimated to affect 90 percent of "taste" - can be used as a stimulus signal "full" for the brain to then submitted that the body is satisfied.

Meanwhile, Dominic Dwyer, neural psychology expert from Cardiff University, UK, suggested the use of these crystals should not be indiscriminate. "The smell of native foods can indeed make us eat more. However, these substances must be handled very carefully," he said.