Is Bariatric Surgery for You?

What this episode covers

Is Bariatric Surgery for You? Forty million Americans are overweight and 11.5 million are morbidly obese, which means 100 lbs above normal weight for men and 80 lbs above normal weight for women. Bell says the causes of obesity include genetic, environmental, psychological, social, cultural, and metabolic. Diet and exercise, particularly for morbidly obese persons, is often not effective. Bell calls it “low risk surgery performed on high risk individuals.” Among the medical problems that often clear up after bariatric surgery are diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea and gastroesophageal reflex disease. Complications occur in much less than one percent of all bariatric surgery procedures. (January 31, 2007)

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