Liposuction Doesn't Offer Health Benefit, Study Finds

[PfcHammer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/health/17fat.html?position=&pagewanted=print&position=

Liposuction Doesn't Offer Health Benefit, Study Finds
By DENISE GRADY

Having 20 pounds of fat removed by liposuction makes people look better but provides none of the protection from heart disease and diabetes that would result from losing the same amount of weight through diet and exercise, researchers are reporting.

A report being published today in The New England Journal of Medicine challenges several earlier studies, preliminary ones suggesting that liposuction could improve health by lowering blood fats and other risk factors linked to diabetes.

Those studies had led many plastic surgeons to begin promoting liposuction, particularly procedures removing many pounds of fat, as a medical treatment for obesity rather than merely a cosmetic operation, said Dr. Samuel Klein, the first author of the new study and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

"But what this study tells you is that losing fat itself by sucking it out does not give metabolic benefits," Dr. Klein said.

[Doctor Smith]

1. Fat in and of itself is not the problem.

Even slim people still have considerable fat in their bodies. It really makes no sense that 20% body fat is good, but 30% body fat is toxic and damaging. It is obvious that the real health benefits accrue from exercise, and to some extent calorie restriction.

[FlaGranny]

3. I'm not so sure, from personal experience,

that it is all about calorie restriction either. I'm in my 60's and I've had a weight problem since my first pregnancy. I've recently lost more than 30 pounds and I've done it without effort by nearly completely restricting REFINED foods. Last week I began counting calories just to see how much I've been eating. I average 2000 calories a day. I am not very active, but I do walk the dog a couple of times a day, walking maybe 6 to 8 blocks a day, average. This was a revelation to me. I've never been able to stick to any low-calorie diet longer than about 4 to 6 months before. Losing weight is easy on a calorie restricted diet until your body goes into starvation mode, then your hunger becomes unbearable and your weight loss ceases.

When I think of all the years I struggled to keep my weight under control with low-calorie diets!!! Now I realize that the only way to succeed is slowly, with lots of good food, and I probably have better nutrition now than I ever did before.

This 30 pounds has taken me six months to lose, but I lost it eating as much food as I want and never ever once being hungry and denying myself food. For the first time in my life I KNOW this weight will never come back.

You are completely right about exercise. Even a little exercise is good for you. It might not cause much weight loss, but what it does for your health is just as important. Just walking an average of 6 to 8 blocks a day with my dog took my cholesterol from 240 to 183 - I can't account for that any other way than those walks because that happened BEFORE my weight loss.

Edit: To poster below - you can use that as your diet book, but I think lots of other folks already thought of it. ;-)

[JayS]

2. Can someone help me write my new diet book so I can get...

...rich? It is about a diet that I used to lose weight and keep it off for decades now. The two principle items of my diet are to eat less calories from a well-balanced meal and to exercise more. This took only one short paragraph and with a big font and lots of pictures (of my dog) I have got my book to three pages. Any ideas?




The link is dead on this story but what I have saved of the post might interest you:

May 19, 2004, 8:07PM
Program provides surgical alternative for obese kids
By ERIC BERGER
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2580539 (link has died)



The doctors responsible for treating the sickest, most obese children in Houston have had a startling change of heart.

When first approached a few years ago about performing gastric bypass surgery in adolescents, a drastic procedure that permanently shrinks the stomach and rearranges the intestines, the Texas Children's Hospital surgeons declared it unthinkable.

But children have only continued to grow fatter -- with some estimates now classifying 40 percent of Texas children as obese. So the pediatric surgeons reconsidered gastric bypass, and earlier this month two local girls had the surgery done. The hospital has kept its two patients, who are recovering successfully, anonymous for now.

*SNIP*

The main surgical response to morbid obesity, bariatric operations, is a potent one. Patients can lose hundreds of pounds. But it is also a dangerous one. For every 100 to 200 gastric bypass surgeries performed, one patient dies from complications.

*SNIP*

[bleedingheart]

9. No!!!! You have stolen my idea

;-)

I have lost weight through exercise and eating right...I even ....eat BREAD!

[JayS]

12. Bread is edible?!?!

You could knock me over with a feather! :)

I listen to the Dr. Dean Edel Show on the weekends and he is always suggesting some simple health ideas. I want to get his books Eat, Drink and Be Merry and Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Healthiness.

[radwriter0555]

4. LOL! No one ever SAID lipo was GOOD for you!!! Duh....

this is a no brainer.

Wonder how much they paid to figure out THIS no brainer.

[Mel]

5. not only that

but I bet it Hurts like hell! Yikes! have you ever seen it done? (tv) I can't watch it gives me the willies!

[mountainvue]

7. Actually

it doesn't hurt that much. The recovery period is relatively short. I think that's why so many people have it done. It is ridiculously expensive, though.

[eridani]

6. Wish they had the balls to say that there are NO benefits to losing weight

The statistical link between poor health and weight has two possible explanatory models.

1. Poor diet and exercise habits-->weight gain-->health problems

2. Poor diet and exercise habits-->health problems
and also
Poor diet and exercise habits-->(sometimes) weight gain

This study clearly and conclusively established model 2.

[JayS]

8. They are talking about using "stomach surgery" here for...

...children that are overweight. (I forget the name of the surgery and only remember that the word reminds me of barbaric, which is fitting) The report I read said that one out of between one hundred and two hundred will die as a result of the surgery; there was no mention of how many will merely suffer lifelong complications. I am hoping the report had an error and the number was more like one in one hundred thousand or so surgeries will result in death. That is still too high of a risk for what diet and exercise can in most cases do better. What a strange world we live in...

[Massacure]

10. You mean where they staple your stomach?

One of my neighbors had that done. He lost a lot of weight. However, now he pukes whenever he eats anything other than mashed potatoes or jello.

Breakfast? Mashed potatoes and jello.
Lunch? Mashed potatoes and jello.
Dinner? Mashed potatoes and jello.
Thirsty? Water.

How would you like that for the rest of your life?

[JayS]

11. Yuk! Here is some info I dug up from my first post of this.

The link is dead but here is much of the story.



May 19, 2004, 8:07PM
Program provides surgical alternative for obese kids
By ERIC BERGER
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2580539



The doctors responsible for treating the sickest, most obese children in Houston have had a startling change of heart.

When first approached a few years ago about performing gastric bypass surgery in adolescents, a drastic procedure that permanently shrinks the stomach and rearranges the intestines, the Texas Children's Hospital surgeons declared it unthinkable.

But children have only continued to grow fatter -- with some estimates now classifying 40 percent of Texas children as obese. So the pediatric surgeons reconsidered gastric bypass, and earlier this month two local girls had the surgery done. The hospital has kept its two patients, who are recovering successfully, anonymous for now.

*SNIP*

The main surgical response to morbid obesity, bariatric operations, is a potent one. Patients can lose hundreds of pounds. But it is also a dangerous one. For every 100 to 200 gastric bypass surgeries performed, one patient dies from complications.

*SNIP*