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When it comes to excess weight, the Land of Plenty has
plenty to be concerned about. Obesity is defined as being
30 percent over one’s ideal body weight, and one in five
Americans meets that criteria. That’s 39 million people,
or about the populations of California and Virginia combined.
Since 1991, the incidence of obesity has increased 17
percent, and the condition has been classified as an epidemic
by The Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA). Obesity is not a person’s private
problem anymore. As the second leading cause of preventable
death in the United States (surpassed only by smoking),
obesity is a public health concern. It claims 300,000
lives each year. And obesity is not just an appearance
issue: the excess weight effects every organ system.
Heart disease, Type II diabetes, sleep apnea, reflux
disease, urinary incontinence, joint pain, back problems,
and infertility are all common co-morbid conditions
that effect obese people.
Not only does obesity drain a person’s health; it also
drains his or her pocketbook. Many obese people, in
hope of finding the answer to their weight problem,
spend tremendous amounts of money on diet plans; the
weight-loss industry accrues about $33 billion each
year. Meanwhile, these people need to take care of their
health as best they can. The estimated medical costs
of treating obesity are about $238 billion each year;
of that, roughly $100 billion covers the cost of treating
co-morbid conditions.
It’s not that obese (and overweight) people have not
tried to shed pounds; many have. At any given time,
between 33 to 40 percent of women and 20 to 24 percent
of men are trying to lose weight. Some people can lose
weight through a diet and exercise program. But for
others, these diet plans often fail to produce the desired
results, or, weight is lost and then regained. The course
of last resort for these people is surgical treatment
of obesity -- gastric bypass, where a small stomach
pouch is created and part of the small intestine is
bypassed.
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