Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Bariatric Surgery May Lead to Improved Obesity Fighting Treatments

Obesity is a serious worldwide problem. Obesity increases the incidence of illness and puts pressure on a health care budget. For these and other reasons, many experts around the world are looking for ways to solve the obesity problem. Since bariatric surgery continues to be the most effective approach to weight loss, researchers are trying to determine exactly how bariatric surgery allows a person to lose weight. Experts will then use the research results to develop better ways to fight obesity.

Some understanding of gastric bypass surgery has already led to the construction of EBTs or endoscopic bariatric therapies. As a recent white paper on EBTs reported, EBTs are "performed entirely through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract using flexible endoscopes..." And "[u]sually there is no surgical incision associated with EBTs. Many EBTs mimic the functions of bariatric surgery.” Most of these EBTs are medical devices that are inserted into the body via some existing body orifice.
Further, knowledge gained from bariatric surgery may provide us with improved weight loss pharmacotherapy. A deeper understanding of gastric bypass surgery and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy may lead to more effective weight loss drugs. One naturally occurring hormone in the body that has received a lot of attention during the last few years is ghrelin. Ghrelin is believed to play a role in lessening the desire to eat more food.

And research has shown that laparoscopic bypass surgery and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy reduce the amount of ghrelin in the body, post surgery. This finding lends support to the idea that a drug can be produced that will lessen the effects of ghrelin, therefore, reducing the desire to eat. This, in turn, could lead to weight loss.

In fact, in 2006, the Scripps Research Institute developed a vaccine that targeted ghrelin in animals. And the "anti-obesity vaccine ... significantly slowed weight gain and reduced body fat in animal models."

As bariatric surgery results are studied and understood, medical weight loss options might be enhanced. Both patients and weight loss service providers could benefit. Medical and surgical weight loss service providers should monitor the progress made in bariatric surgery research. The providers will then know when they might offer improved weight loss and weight management services based on the bariatric surgery research results.

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Comments:

Blogger amit said...

Thanks for great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get this tips from you



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February 22, 2012 at 5:08 AM  

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