Stomach Stapling

Gastrointestinal or gastric surgery is also known as 'stomach stapling' or sometimes a 'stomach bypass'. This surgery concentrates on alleviating the health risks that threaten the lives of obese people.

What is Stomach Stapling?

Stomach stapling is a surgical procedure that is aimed at people that have tried and failed at weight loss programmes, diets and other techniques to try and lose weight. By reducing the size of the stomach, the quantity of food that you can consume is reduced; hence the amount you eat is lower.

Stomach stapling is an effective weight loss method that helps people who cannot lose weight through eating healthily and taking regular physical activity. Diabetics, sufferers of heart disease and those with high blood pressure could all experience excellent improvements in their health by losing weight.

Who Benefits?

People with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35-40 are usually considered for stomach stapling. By reducing the capacity of the stomach, the amount of calories you can consume also diminishes meaning that you eat less as you cannot fit as much food in as before. This makes this type of weight loss method so effective n the short term at least. Long term weight loss and eventually weight control can be achieved using this weight loss method in conjunction with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Malabsorptive Surgery

A similar procedure involves surgery whereby the digestive tract is shortened in length and this is known as Malabsorptive surgery. This weight loss procedure decreases the amount of food that your body can absorb. These procedures are also known as Rouxen-Y gastric bypass (RGB) and Biliopancreatic Diversion (BPD).

There are some immediate and long term negative side effects of such treatments for obesity to consider which include nausea, vomiting diarrhoea, heartburn and vitamin deficiencies. These become apparent as the amount of food and nutrients absorbed by the body is reduced so health risks that relate to malnutrition apply here. As with most weight loss programmes and diet plans that are designed to help you to lose weight and stay fit and healthy for longer, they are short term solutions unless combined with healthy eating and regular exercise.