Obesity surgeries gaining in popularity

January 26, 2006

Obesity is the No. 1 health care problem in America. While diet and exercise still play a key role in treating obesity, weight-loss surgeries are gaining popularity as a means of treating the disease. Obesity affects about 10 million people in the United States. There are about 170,000 bariatric surgeries performed in the United States annually.

Bariatrics is the study of obesity and its treatment. Weight-loss surgeries date back to the 1950s but began to blossom in the 1980s with the development of gastric bypass. 80 percent of weight-loss surgeries performed currently are gastric bypass, 15 percent are gastric bands and less than 5 percent are biliopancreatic diversions. All three forms of surgeries are growing in popularity.

Apart from weight loss surgeries, diet pills such as phentermine, Adipex and Xenical are also an effective means of weight loss.

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