Obesity is the most common form of malnutrition in the western world. It is a chronic disease with multiple and complex causes, not just a problem of overeating. Controlling weight is a lifetime enterprise. It is very important to understand that medical interventions, including surgery, are not the cure for obesity, but a way of controlling this disease¹

Clinically Severe Obesity

More than one-third of the adult population is overweight or obese. An estimated 19 million Americans are morbidly obese, having increased risks for serious diseases and likelihood of shorter life expectancy. This disease is called "morbid obesity" because it is associated with progressive, serious, and debilitating diseases. It is a major contributor to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, osteoarthritis of weight-bearing joints, respiratory problems, gallstones, urinary incontinence, swollen legs that may develop ulcers, and gastro esophageal reflux. Also, the social, psychological and economic consequences of morbid obesity are devastating. Prejudice against the obese is common in American Society.^1,2

Bariatric Surgery: Changing the Energy Balance

Operations for obesity are designed to change the energy balance.

Energy balance is related to the amount of food absorbed and the amount of energy used. Excess energy is stored as fat.⁵

Surgery may control obesity by changing energy balance in two ways:

1. Decreasing in intake of food (restriction), and
2. Causing some of the food (i.e. sugars and fats) to be poorly digested and incompletely absorbed (malabsorption) and, therefore, eliminated in the stool.