According to a study published in Science Translational Medicine the key lies in amino acids: the gastric bypass procedure significantly reduces the amount of branched-chain amino acids circulating in the blood. This decrease results in an improvement in the body’s response to insulin.
Somehow this drop in amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) improves the body's response to insulin with the end result of normalizing blood sugar and correcting diabetes.
The blood sugar of the gastric bypass patient is also stabilized due to decreased food intake. Patients having the gastric bypass experience a surgical reduction of stomach size – after the procedure, the remaining stomach pouch typically holds only 1 ounce.
Insulin resistance continues to improve over time as the gastric bypass patient loses weight as a result of reduced stomach capacity as well as the malabsorption of nutrients created by re-routing of the intestines (food that is consumed bypasses the segment of the small intestine closest to where it attaches to the stomach).
Additionally, anatomical changes resulting from the gastric bypass procedure result in hormonal changes which also effects insulin resistance.
Gastric Bypass: The Gold Standard
Although adjustable gastric banding – ubiquitously referred to as Lap-Band – has rapidly become the most popular weight loss surgery, the gold standard for obesity surgery remains the gastric bypass.
This surprised me – after all, Lap-Band is a much less invasive procedure with far fewer risks to the patient. The Lap-Band takes just 20 minutes and can be performed as an outpatient procedure. The stomach is reduced through the placement of a silicone band that is adjusted, or filled, with water to create a sensation of fullness in the patient.
By comparison the gastric bypass is a far more serious procedure, involving intestinal re-routing and up to 80% of the stomach permanently removed. That doctors sworn to ‘first do no harm’ would prefer a maximally invasive operation over the minimally invasive Lap-Band seems counter-intuitive, to say the least.
It turns out that surgeons have different criteria for gold standard than patients which on reflection is not surprising. Patients value convenience (will I have to miss a lot of work? Will I be in a lot of pain?) While surgeons, of course, are focused first and foremost on patient safety – i.e. reducing the risk and potential seriousness of complications.
The gold standard of any surgical procedure is all about the availability of long-term tracking data and outcomes; the gold standard is a benchmark against which newer lesser known procedures are measured quality and effectiveness.
Long-term studies have clearly demonstrated that the gastric bypass regularly results in significant long-term loss of weight and recovery from Type 2 diabetes.
As well, gastric bypass results in improvement in other obesity correlates that pose serious health problems, for example cardiovascular risk factors and premature mortality.
Dr. Oz Advocates for Gastric Bypass Surgery
Most of us have heard weight loss surgery referred to as ‘the easy way out’, an attitude that suggests that healthy ‘normal’ weight loss can and should be achieved solely through diet and exercise. Perhaps not surprisingly, Dr. Oz does not agree.
“We probably do only 1% of the gastric bypass surgeries we should do." ~Dr. OzUSA Today and Prevention magazine both quote Dr. Oz as having no qualms recommending gastric bypass surgery, a procedure he considers essential in the fight against obesity.
Dr. Oz points out that a 50-year old with a BMI of more than 40 (the medical definition for obesity, usually constituting more than 100 lbs of excess weight) has the same mortality rate as a cancer patient. Most would not hesitate to operate for cancer, and the same should be true of obesity, says Dr. Oz.
“You have to do it with counseling and full awareness of what you're doing, of course. But if you get people to start losing 5% of their excess body weight, you're really taking a big whack out of the two-thirds of Americans."
Lifestyle Changes After Gastric Bypass
Full awareness of what you’re doing includes, of course, the permanent limitations patients face post-RNY gastric bypass, which are substantial:
· You can eat only a few ounces of food at a time.
· You must eat very slowly and thoroughly or risk the vomiting and pain of food getting ‘stuck
· No room at the inn – you will not be able to drink before, during or after meals
· A lifetime of vitamins and supplements to prevent bone and hair loss (due to malabsorption of nutrients caused by intestinal re-routing)
· Avoiding simple sugars – candy, soft drinks, ketchup, etc – which move quickly through the stomach and intestines to cause dumping syndrome.
Gastric Bypass CostThe bad news: for many patients, gastric bypass is financially out of reach: the cost of gastric bypass in the US is typically more than $30,000, rarely covered by insurance or Medicare. However, the globalization of medical care offers patients an opportunity to get the gastric bypass procedure with the world's most experienced obesity surgical teams, at a state-of-the-art hospital, for only a fraction of the US cost.
Gastric bypass medical travel programs through Health Travel Guides are all-inclusive, with prices starting at $10,215. Work with surgeons that have performed thousands of gastric bypass procedures on US health travelers demanding more value for their health dollar. Submit a secure online medical profile; the results go directly to a top obesity surgical team for review, and a Health Travel Guide will contact you to answer any questions.
Related Resources:
- Green Zone Lap-Band resulting in faster, sooner weight loss
- Is Weight Loss Surgery a Drastic Solution to the Problem of Childhood Obesity?
- Gastric Plication: Is This Evolution of Reflux Surgery a Revolution in Weight Loss Surgery?
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| Laureli (Laureli@HealthTravelGuides.com / 866.978.2573 x121) has lost 80 lbs since having Lap-Band. |
