Normal and Therapeutic Nutrition

Normal and Therapeutic Nutrition 3(2+1)

Lesson 31:Over weight and Obesity – causes, symptoms and dietary management

Weight loss surgery

• Bariatric surgery (“weight loss surgery”) is the use of surgical interventions in the treatment of obesity.
• As every operation may have complications, surgery is only recommended for severely obese/ morbid obese people (BMI>40) who have failed to lose weight by dietary modification and pharmacological treatment.
• Weight loss surgery relies on various principles; the most common approaches are reducing the volume of the stomach, producing an earlier sense of satiation (e.g. by adjustable gastric banding and vertical banded gastroplasty) and reduce the length of bowel that food will be in contact with, directly reducing absorption (gastric bypass surgery). Complications from weight loss surgery are frequent.