Obesity is an epidemic in America. The frequency of gastric bypass surgery is increasing. Insurance companies are more frequently paying for gastric bypass surgery, since the insurance companies recognize that treating the American epidemic of obesity is very important.
In an important article, T. Adams and co-workers (JAMA 2012; 308:1122) evaluated over 1,000 severely obese patients who had either received gastric bypass surgery, or did not have the surgery. Patients who had gastric bypass surgery…
We live in a society obsessed with weight, body image, food and physical appearance. There is a consistent battle of “fat vs. skinny” that our culture fights with every day – both sides having negative and positive aspects. Being overweight has been long recognized as an adverse health risk, as having a higher body mass has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, earlier death and some forms of cancer, while being skinny,…
Preventing disease by taking pills is easy. You pop the pills, and expect the benefits, and you’re done – no changes needed.
An equally important, but much more difficult way of preventing disease is by changing dangerous lifestyle behaviors. Examples of these behaviors are smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, drug abuse, overeating (which can result in obesity), and too little physical activity all produce harmful effects in your body.
Many patients can improve their behaviors just…