The obesity epidemic is a staggering public health problem and despite increased attention and education, the WHO still predicts the number of obese adults worldwide to increase from 400 million to 700 million between 2005 and 2015. More and more people are turning to bariatric surgery as a last resort. Despite a slow economy, demand remains strong, even despite its being classified as an elective procedure for most individuals.

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The Blount Memorial Weight Management Center, Foothills Weight Loss Specialists and Johnson and Johnson Ethicon Endo-Surgery hosted a Bariatric Surgery Fashion Show. The event celebrated seven years and more than 75,000 pounds lost at Blount Memorial. Weight-loss surgery patients took a walk down the catwalk, showed off their clothes pre-surgery and post-surgery, and then told others about how bariatric surgery changed their lives for the better.

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Mercy Medical Center has become the first hospital on Long Island to offer a new single-incision Lap-Band(r) (laparoscopic gastric banding) procedure for weight loss surgery. SILS is an important new option that holds the potential of less pain, fewer scars and quicker recovery. Mercy received the 2008 Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award(tm) from HealthGrades(r), the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, and is a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designated the American Society For Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

A recent research conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has concluded that obese patients can consider bariatric surgery for reducing the risk of adverse cardiovascular events. This is the first ever study to take into account validated scores for cardiovascular risk on a patient population and compare them with previous results. The results showed that cardiovascular risk was reduced by up to 79 per cent.

According to American researchers, bariatric surgery patients with two obesity-related genetic variations are more likely to be obese compared to others. Published in the journal, Archives of Surgery, researchers analyzed patients’ blood samples for two common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are known to be connected with obesity. The research may offer new hope for patients who do not lose weight even after undergoing bariatric surgery.