Adjustable Lap Band Surgery As a Strategic Consideration for Diabetes Treatment

Not long ago, we talked about the use of bariatric surgery for diabetes treatment. We specifically mentioned gastric bypass surgery. Gastric bypass surgery does two things to accomplish weight loss: The surgery shrinks the stomach and the surgery re-routes the small intestine.

A less traumatic form of bariatric surgery is adjustable lap band surgery. In this surgery, an adjustable band is placed around the upper part of the stomach, forming a small pouch or "new smaller stomach." Since the "new stomach" is smaller, a person feels full with less food.

The lap band can be adjusted with a saline injection to shrink or increase the pouch." Since no surgery is done on the stomach, and since the small intestine is not re-routed, lap band surgery is less traumatic than gastric bypass surgery.

Although some studies show that less weight is lost after lap band surgery than after gastric bypass surgery, a 2-year study reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicated that obese patients with Type 2 diabetes who had lap band surgery experienced higher diabetes remission rates than patients who used conventional methods to control diabetes.

We believe this is exciting news for bariatric or weight loss centers. Diabetes is a serious illness throughout the world. And treatment methods are in high demand. Therefore, bariatric centers should monitor bariatric related research in the diabetes treatment area. Offering and marketing lap band surgery as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes may be turn out to be a good strategic move.

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Tags: strategic move, strategic management, diabetes, bariatric center, weight loss center, JAMA, lap band surgery, diabetes treatment

Offering Long Term Support Can Be a Sound Strategic Move

The vegan diet is a restrictive form of a vegetarian diet. On the vegan diet, one does not eat any animal derived products. There is another diet called the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) diet. A recent University of North Carolina study indicated that the vegan diet is superior to the NCEP diet.

The study also concluded that with either diet, dieters did better when the dieters participated in a year long follow-up support program. The study results give more credence to the post bariatric surgery programs that most bariatric centers have in place.

That is, there are support groups and weight-loss experts associated with most programs to help a bariatric patient with diet and exercise post surgery. There are also experts available to provide emotional support.

We believe that bariatric centers should have good follow up surgery programs in place. And for those centers offering non-surgical weight loss programs, the above-mentioned study shows the importance of long term weight loss support. Establishing long term programs could be beneficial to clients. And it could be strategically advantageous for a weight loss or bariatric center.
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Tags: weight loss center, bariatric center, strategic management, non-surgical weight loss, vegan, NCEP, bariatric surgery