Surgery in a Pill?… Lower Risk of GERD after Gastric Bypass than Other Procedures… U.S. Obesity Rates on the Rise Again… CDC: Obesity Rates Highest in Rural America… Young Adults with Obesity More Likely to Have an Eating Disorder but Less Likely to be Diagnosed… Spike in Liver Cancer Due to Obesity Epidemic… Opinion: Childhood Obesity is America’s Biggest Security Threat
Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in the News
Harvard Scientists Aim to Reverse Diabetes with “Surgery in a Pill”
WBUR
A new study in the journal Natural Material, unveiled a compound that can be taken as a pill, and then forms a temporary intestinal coating, which blocks nutrients like glucose from contacting the gut. One hour after giving the treatment to lab rats, the rodents’ glucose levels had dropped an impressive 47 percent, the paper reports. A few hours later, their blood sugars were back to normal. Dubbed “surgery in a pill” by the Harvard-affiliated researchers, the “transient and reversible” barrier mimics the dramatic anti-diabetic effects of bariatric surgery used to treat obesity. A co-author of the study says for those averse to surgery or who would be at high risk of complications, this treatment may one day be a “wonderful alternative.”
Certain Bariatric Procedures Linked to Higher Risk for GERD, Esophagiti
Healio Gastroenterology
Patients who have gastric bypass lower their risk of developing GERD and esophagitis compared with other types of bariatric surgeries, according to data presented at Digestive Disease Week. Lisa Bevilacqua, MD, of Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and colleagues investigated any associations between surgery type and post-operative diagnoses from all adult patients in the New York Statewide database who underwent gastric bypass, biliopancreatic diversion (BPD), adjustable gastric banding (AGB), and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) between 1995 and 2010. Patients who underwent AGB and LSG were more likely to develop GERD and esophagitis following surgery, though, they did not find the same pattern when comparing the procedures for incidence of Barrett’s Esophagus or esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Obesity in the News
U.S. Obesity Rates Rising Again
HealthDay via WebMD
After appearing to plateau in recent years, findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition suggest the U.S. obesity rate may be climbing again. Researchers estimate that half of all U.S. teenagers and one-third of kids between 6 and 11 years old will be overweight or have obesity by 2030. Analyzing data from two ongoing federal health surveys, the researchers found that the overall prevalence of obesity rose between 1999 and 2016, but the patterns differed based on sex, race and other factors. Among men, there was a plateau between 2009 and 2012, when one-third had obesity and just under 72 percent had either overweight or obesity. The increase resumed by 2015-2016, however, when 38 percent of men had obesity and 75 had either overweight or obesity. Among women, the obesity rate climbed without interruption between 1999 and 2016, reaching 41.5 percent by 2016. At that point, 69 percent of U.S. women had either overweight or obesity.
Rural America Struggles with Obesity Epidemic
The Hill
New data from the CDC shows 34.2 percent of rural residents have obesity, while the obesity rate in metropolitan counties is 28.7 percent. People living in rural areas struggle with obesity more than those who live in urban areas in every part of the country, the findings reveal. The highest obesity rates are in rural counties in Southern states; in Louisiana and Texas, the number of residents with obesity approaches 40 percent. The higher rates of obesity in rural areas is a long-term trend that highlights the socioeconomic differences between urban areas, as population density and demographic play a role in greater access to healthful foods, opportunities for physical activity and medical services. Public health experts “say there are plenty of ways to address the obesity epidemic.” The CDC recommends 24 obesity-prevention policies and environmental strategies, “but policymakers have not done as well as they could to implement those practices in real terms, especially in rural communities.”
Eating Disorders Common in Overweight, Obese Young Adults
MedPage Today
Disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) are common in young adults who have overweight or obesity, yet they are half as likely to receive a clinical diagnosis of an eating disorder from a healthcare provider than individuals with non-obese weights, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicin. In a cross-sectional study of young adults 18-24 years, those with overweight or obesity had the highest rate of DEBs among all weight categories and had 2.45 times greater odds of engaging in DEBs such as unhealthy weight control practices and binge eating. Only 2.6 percent of women and 0.3 percent of men with overweight and obesity received a clinical diagnosis of an eating disorder, whereas 4.9 percent of women and 0.6 percent of men of normal weight or underweight received one. The findings challenge the common perception that underweight women have the highest risk for disordered eating, according to study author Jason M. Nagata, MD, of the University of California San Francisco. “Using a large nationally representative data source, we found that disordered eating behaviors are actually three times more common in young adults with obesity than those who are underweight.”
Obesity Drives Liver Cancer in Developed Nations
HealthDay via WebMD
New research presented at the Global Hepatitis Summit in Toronto shows liver cancer cases in several developed countries have doubled in the past 25 years because of the obesity epidemic and a spike in hepatitis infections. Obesity causes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can also progress to liver cancer. About 20 percent of people in developed countries have some degree of the disease. Of these people, 1 in 10 could develop cirrhosis, and 20 to 30 percent could develop liver cancer. The researchers say obesity alone is likely to lead to an overwhelming number of liver cancer cases in years. “We are completely unprepared to deal with such an epidemic,” said lead researcher Dr. Morris Sherman, from the University Health Network and the University of Toronto. “And not only would we be submerged in the sheer number of cases, the financial considerations for the health systems in these countries would be phenomenal.”
North Korea is Not Americas Biggest Security Threat — Childhood Obesity Is
The Hill – Opinion
President of Liver Specialists of Texas says childhood obesity is “public health enemy number one.” Obesity and its associated complications including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver, cirrhosis, kidney disease, and cancer are a major threat to the nation. Thirty-one percent of the country’s armed forces recruits are ineligible for service due to obesity and recent data suggests the current generation of children will not survive as long as their parents. He says the costs of managing the obesity epidemic will bankrupt America. The global cost of obesity was $2 trillion dollars in 2014, and workers with obesity are less productive and cost billions in lost wages due to greater absenteeism. “Physicians need to confront obesity with vigor, documenting it as a problem as soon as it’s identified. Its treatment is not another prescription acting as a band aid, but rather as a problem that needs to be addressed by every practicing physician and political advocate.”