Being overweight and trying to lose the weight is not simple, it takes time and motivation. Think of all the yo-yo diets that you go through, the weight loss gadgets that you try like the Ab Doer or the Bun and Thigh Roller, or even maybe the weight loss pills that you pop like candy hoping for a miracle. Many people are left depressed praying for a miracle and they turn to weight loss surgery like the gastric band. After the procedure patients often say, “They wish they had done it sooner in their life and bypassed all the diets and gadgets they had tried in their past.”

So why not skip all these diets and get the procedure when you are a teenager? This is a very touchy subject with a lot of debate surrounding it. Some people believe teenagers should wait until they are mature enough to make this decision for themselves. However, say this was your child and for years you saw them struggling with their weight and it kept creeping up, with no success. What would you do?

Recently on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” a show re-aired once again featuring 2 teenagers who had the gastric band procedure. One of these was a 13 year old girl named Cassie who was one of the youngest patients to undergo the gastric banding procedure in the U.S.A. At 220 pounds with attempts at dieting and even consulting with a nutritionist, Cassie kept gaining weight. Her mother Jennifer said, “Every month, [she gained] between 5 to 8 pounds. … We don’t know where the weight was coming [from],” she says. “My biggest fear was mentally, Cassie would crash. She’d become depressed, she’d eat because of the depression, she’d stop sports, she’d stop being who she was.” After Jennifer learned that Cassie was being teased at school she decided to learn more about the procedure. Since being banded, Cassie has lost almost 80 pounds and has learned new eating habits, eating what she wants but in smaller portions.

A study done by physician-scientists from Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center, just released preliminary results, reporting that the small group of extremely obese teenagers who were banded, as part of a clinical trial lost on average 20 pounds after 6 months and, “had significant improvements in abdominal fat, triglyceride measurements (levels of fat in the blood) and blood sugar levels as measured by hemoglobin A1c — all risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.”

What do you think? Is it okay for teenagers to get the procedure? Post your comments here!

To learn more about Cassie’s story, please visit: http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/slideshow1_ss_slide_weight_020408tows/1

And to learn more about the medical study from Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center, please visit:

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=39350

 Hanna

This past Sunday Lesley Stahl, CBS news correspondent for 60 Minutes completed a special report on what many are now referring to as The Bypass Effect. As doctors know gastric bypass or bariatric surgery has been performed since the 1950’s. The safety of patients undergoing the procedure was a serious concern for physicians until the development of similar but less invasive procedures such as the laparoscopic band.

As the surgical option for weight loss has become more main-stream, the number of surgeries performed each year has increased along with the safety of the procedure. According to Dr. Neil Hutcher a bypass surgeon from Richmond, Va. bypass surgery is the most effective means of curing obesity with a success rate of 85-90%. Patients on average lose one third of their total body weight after the surgery.

What Stahl notes is that not only do bariatric patients experience weight loss, many have experienced other pleasant but previously unknown side effects in addition to their weight loss. For many who have opted to undergo bypass surgery, their type II diabetes has vanished and the surgery has also been reported to suppress appetite and curb food cravings.

Of the 10 patients Stahl interviews the entire panel had typeII diabetes before the surgery but all of them are now free of diabetes and sugar controlling medications. According to Dr. Hutcher approximately 80% of patients who undergo bypass surgery are cured of diabetes. Although it is true that obesity is one of the largest contributing factors to type II diabetes these patients experience the remission of diabetes before they recorded weight loss. For most patients their diabetes had disappeared before they returned home after having the surgery.

All of which is great news for anyone considering bypass or lap-band surgery! To watch the 60 Minutes news cast click the player below.