Title:
Gastric Bypass - The Response To A Man-Made Problem
Summary
Obesity is as old as time itself and for many obesity is caused by medical or genetic problems. In today's world, however, the alarming increase in the rate of obesity is very much a man-made problem, fired in part by the availability, and popularity, of the gastric bypass.
Advances in surgical techniques, not least the arrival of laparoscopic procedures, have made the gastric bypass a much simpler and more acceptable solution to the problem of obesity. What is more, the p...
Keywords
gastric bypass, laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery, weight loss surgery, obesity
Article Body
Obesity is as old as time itself and for many obesity is caused by medical or genetic problems. In today's world, however, the alarming increase in the rate of obesity is very much a man-made problem, fired in part by the availability, and popularity, of the gastric bypass.
Advances in surgical techniques, not least the arrival of laparoscopic procedures, have made the gastric bypass a much simpler and more acceptable solution to the problem of obesity. What is more, the profile of the gastric bypass has been raised substantially in recent years helped in no small way by the number of celebrities choosing this method of weight loss.
The list of famous people following this route is long and includes the coach of the Notre Dame football team Charlie Weiss, the footballer Diego Maradona, the musician and harmonica virtuoso John Popper and the rock singer Randy Jackson to name just a few.
Article Body
But why is obesity on the increase and is it truly a problem of our own making?
Despite the fact that there was a slight rise in the rate of obesity following world War II, the last twenty five years have seen a major growth in obesity, particularly in the USA. The precise reason for this is not known and there is fairly wide disagreement about the cause, but here are just a few reasons over which there is general agreement.
Strangest of all perhaps is the effect that the craze for diet and exercise has had on the rise in obesity. We have become obsessed with dieting and many people diet as frequently as they change their clothes. Unfortunately it's the case that most diets fail and, following a diet, it is common for your weight to rise to a level even higher than it was before you started. This pattern of falling and rising weight over time usually results in a steady underlying increase in weight towards obesity.
Each one of the factors mentioned here not only add to the growth in obesity but is also clearly made-made.
Now certainly gastric bypass provides one possible solution. However, even though the procedure is much simpler than it used to be and is gaining in popularity, it remains far from a pleasant experience and is not without its risks.
For those people who are obese today gastric bypass presents an excellent solution to their problem. For our children and grandchildren however perhaps the answer lies in preventing obesity rather than sitting back and waiting for the problem to arrive before resorting to gastric bypass surgery.