Gastric Bypass - The Response To A Man-made Problem

The problem of obesity has been with us since the dawn of time and for many people obesity is caused by genetic or medical problems. In today's world, however, the dismaying growth in the rate of obesity is very much a man-made problem, fuelled in part perhaps by the availability, and popularity, of the gastric bypass.

Advances in surgical techniques, not least the introduction of laparoscopic procedures, have made the gastric bypass a much easier and more acceptable solution to the problem of obesity. Also, the profile of the gastric bypass has been raised very much in recent years aided in no small way by the number of celebrities picking this form of weight loss.

The list of well known personalities taking this route is long and includes the rock singer Randy Jackson, the singer and TV host Carnie Wilson, the footballer Diego Maradona and the best selling author Anne Rice to name just a few.

But just why is obesity growing and is it truly a problem of our own making?

Although there was a slight rise in the rate of obesity after the Second World War, the past twenty five years have seen a substantial growth in obesity, particularly in the USA. The exact reason for this is unknown and there is quite wide disagreement on the cause, but here are just a few reasons over which there is general agreement.

1. A variety of trade subsidies agreed over the last twenty five years have considerably cut the relative cost of food, not least that of sugar and sugar syrup. In turn this means that we are now eating a lot more than we previously did.

2. We are now very much a nation of two income households and this means that people are doing far less cooking at home. The number of people eating in restaurants, opting for take out fast food or choosing home delivery meals has risen drastically in recent years.

3. Over the past twenty five years there have been big changes in the workforce with significantly fewer people employed today in manual work and with a gaining number of us sitting back and letting machines do the work which we used to do or are sitting all day behind a desk or at a computer.

4. In spite of the present discussion over oil prices, the car is no longer a luxury and the two car family is becoming the norm. Today we don't think twice about using the car for even the shortest of journeys and many of us wouldn't even contemplate walking down to the corner shop.

5. As a society we have become far less active preferring to watch our favorite sport in preference to getting out and playing the game ourselves and this is particularly true for people who are overweight. perhaps of greater interest, if you decrease the calorie intake for people who are overweight they do not become more active and if you rise the calorie intake for slim people they do not become less active. Weight gain, or loss, does not affect a person's level of activity, but that person's level of activity does affect his weight.

6. Strangest of all perhaps is the effect that the craze for exercise and diet has had on the increase in obesity. As a society we have become obsessed with dieting and many people diet as often as they change their clothes. Unfortunately it's a fact that the majority of diets fail and, after a diet, it is not uncommon for your weight to rise to a level even higher than it was before the diet. This pattern of rising and falling weight over time often results in a steady increase in weight towards obesity.

Each of the factors observed here not only add to the growth in obesity but is also patently made-made.

Of course gastric bypass provides one solution. Nevertheless, even though the procedure is much easier than it used to be and is growing in popularity, it is still far from a pleasant experience and is not without its risks.

For those people who are obese today gastric bypass represents an excellent solution to their problem. For our children and grandchildren however perhaps the answer lies in preventing obesity rather than sitting back and waiting for the problem to arrive before turning to gastric bypass surgery.