News and Views

More than 11,500 gastric band operations were performed in Australia last year. The procedure is helping to combat Australia’s rapidly increasing obesity rate. The rates of overweight and obese adults in Australia have doubled over the last two decades.

Obesity related issues are never out of the news these days. From crash diets to rigorous hours in the gym, it seems that most people are on a quest to shed some weight. Weight goes up, then comes down, then on it goes again with an extra few pounds and so it goes on and on.

Dr Phil Hammond thinks that there is no excuse for letting so many people suffer the disease and disability that is often a consequence of obesity. He says it is a lazy answer that the NHS just doesn’t have the money to fund the number of gastric band operations necessary.

Dr Peter Holt of Rockefeller University in New York says that people who undergo Gastric Bypass surgery are likely to have large quantities of alcohol in the blood even if they drink little, which takes a long time to wear off. He also claims that bacteria in parts of the gut cut off in gastric bypasses can produce pure alcohol.

Dr Mohammad Jamal says that 90% of patients with obesity, diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome were able to get healthy again after bariatric surgery. And following a study in Orlando, Florida he says that all his patients desiring pregnancy were able to conceive after having a gastric band.

Research has shown that obesity lowers life expectancy by up to seven years and costs the NHS £5 billion a year.

Having a balloon inflated in the stomach can lead to significant weight loss with few side effects, according to one of the largest ever studies to assess the technique. The gastric balloon – which is inserted in a procedure taking around 15 minutes – is highly effective at reducing appetite.