What Is Obesity?

Today, Obesity is recognized as a health problem of epidemic proportions. Obesity refers to a spectrum of excess weight problems ranging from being mildly overweight to being morbidly obese. Patients with morbid obesity usually do not respond to non-surgical means of weight loss. Efforts to treat morbid obesity through controlled diet, behavior modification, and exercise programs are usually only temporarily successful. Obesity surgery is the only method by which long term and permanent weight loss can be achieved in these patients.

Due to changing lifesyles, the incidence of childhood obesity is on the rise. Patients who experience childhood obesity are more likely to develop obesity related complications at an earlier age. If this problem is not addressed today, it is likely to compound and therefore will impose heavily on medical resources.

Obesity is an excess of total body fat, which results from caloric intake that exceeds energy usage. A measurement used to asses health risks of obesity is the Body Mass Index (BMI).

The American Obesity Association reports that obese individuals have a 50-100% increased risk of death as compared to normal weight individuals, with 300,000 to 587,000 deaths each year. This substantial increase in health risks has made obesity the SECOND leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States.

What are Causes of Obesity?

Obesity is due to a combination of the following factors:

1. The genes you inherited from your parents
2. How well your body turns food into energy
3. Your eating and exercising habits
4. Psychological factors
5. Your surroundings

What are the Complications of Obesity?

If you are obese, severely obese or morbidly obese, you may have
1. A shorter life expectancy (50% to 100% increased risk of dying prematurely)
2. Diabetes (Type 2)
3. Joint problems or arthritis
4. High blood pressure
5. Heart disease
6. Gall bladder problems
7. Certain types of cancer, such as breast, uterus, colon, kidney, and gall bladder
8. Digestive disorders or reflux
9. Breathing difficulties
10. Urinary incontinence and problems with fertility
11. Psychological problems such as depression, negative self-image, social isolation, etc.

In addition, you may experience difficulties with day-to-day living. For example:

1. Normal tasks become harder when you are obese, as movement is more difficult.
2. You tend to tire more quickly and you find yourself short of breath.
3. Public transport seats or car may be too small for you.
4. You may find it difficult to maintain personal hygiene.

What are the treatment options for obesity?

Non surgical treatments

Dieting, exercise, and medication have long been regarded as the conventional methods to achieve weight loss. Sometimes these efforts are successful in the short term. However, for people who are morbidly obese, the results rarely last. The majority will continually gain and lose weight, known as the "yo-yo syndrome", which leads to serious psychological and health consequences. Recent studies have shown that conventional methods of weight loss generally do not produce permanent weight loss in patients who are morbidly obese.

Surgical options

The following are the a few of the procedures that are practiced for the treatment of obesity.

1. Gastic Band Surgery or Stomach Banding
2. Sleeve Gastrectomy
3. Bilio-Pancreatic Diversion (BPD)
4. Gastric Bypass Procedure
5. Intragastric Balloon (BIB)