Bariatric Surgery,BMI,Body Fat,Calories, Cardiovascular Disease and Weight Loss

 Are you concerned about your mortality because of excess weight?   Have you ever considered a surgical procedure for stomach shrinkage?    Consider this recent study found in the January 4, 2012 edition of the Wall Street Journal. 4000 Swedish surgical patients were followed over  a 15 year period.   The findings of the research were interesting.  It was true that heart related deaths, heart attacks and strokes were reduced, by the surgical procedures, but surprisingly they were not associated to the degree or amount of weight loss.  In other words, the more weight you lost, by surgical procedure, did not guarantee that you would live longer however; surgical procedures resulted in biological benefits for these Swedish patients.

 These researchers  were amazed  by their findings.However, there were surgical benefits. In fact , surgery was associated with a reduction in death from any cause, and there were better outcomes for cancer, diabetes and other medical conditions. Let us call these  results side effects from surgery.  The explanation given, for this outcome, was that the biological effects of surgery lowered levels of a hormone called leptin. This hormone appeared to explain the benefits and the success of surgery. Yea for surgery.

There was a graph from 1992 through the year 2010 that showed a tremendous increase in bariatric surgeries in the United States.  In 1992 there were proximately 18,000 surgeries and in year 2008 approximately 225,000.  I certainly do not want to be included in that statistic, do you? I want surgery to be the last resort or option for me.

Also in the Wall Street Journal was a study that suggested that weight gain was not necessarily related to fat, protein or carbohydrates. Weight gain was simply associated to the amount of calories consumed.  In this particular study, 25 healthy men and women were deliberately fed approximately 1000 excess calories a day for about two months.

 The researchers varied amounts of protein and fat (low protein, normal protein, high protein) and divided the subjects into these three groups.  Even though the subjects in the low protein group lost the most weight, levels of body fat, increased by essentially the same amount regardless of the group. Body fat might be more important than the percentage of fat, protein and carbohydrates in your diet .Cut calories to reduce body fat.

 Regular exercise was not part of the study, and these participants were monitored to make sure they ate all the food they were given.  Turkey, chicken, tuna and pork chops were among the protein sources.  One conclusion from the study was that fat reduction was maybe more important than weight loss in treating patients with obesity.  In other words, body fat might be a more reliable and accurate measure of health than BMI (height and weight). In essence, pay attention to the amount of calories   consumed since excess calories build’s body fat. How many calories do you require compared to how many calories you want?