Causes Of Obesity

One of the most common misconceptions about body weight is that it is not a physiologically regulated variable, but one set by acquired food habits.

Scientists now know that there are a multitude of factors controlling ones body weight including but not limited to genetics, environment, emotional trauma, and activity level.

This is not to downplay the importance of a healthy and non excessive diet. Obesity is an imbalance of regulations between energy intake and energy expenditure. When intake is greater than expenditure, the body stores the excess energy in the form of fat.

Obese people regulate their intake and expenditure around an elevated set point.

Surgical Treatment

The medical management of weight loss has a limited affect in treating morbid obesity. Most patients regain most of the lost weight with cessation of the diet. Some try multiple diet plans which eventually results in frustration and hopelessness, because of failure to keep the excess weight off.

Both over the counter and prescription drugs for treatment of obesity have serious side effects; in fact some of these medications are harmful in patients who have a number of the obesity associated illnesses.

For a single patient, the accumulated cost of health care for the illnesses associated with obesity, as well as, the loss of productivity over the years is staggering. This includes both monetary and psychological tolls on the patient and their families.

The ideal treatment for the morbidly obese should carry less risk than the disease of obesity itself. It should also provide a long lasting weight loss.

Over the years many types of operations have been performed for the treatment of morbid obesity. The underlying approach for most of the operations were either to reduce food intake by reducing the size of the stomach, or by limiting absorption of the calories by diverting oral intake away from the absorptive enzymes of the pancreas and liver.

Most of these procedures were to some degree or another associated with some complications both surgical and metabolic. GRDS is a hybrid operation where by the oral intake is limited by reducing size of the stomach and by limiting absorption in the most physiologic way.