Dear Bariatric Times Editor:

I noted with interest the article by Cynthia Buffington, PhD, entitled, “Alcohol Use and Health Risks: Survey Results,” which appeared in the March 2007 issue of Bariatric Times.[1] Recent inquiries to the International Bariatric Surgery Registry (IBSR) from patients or family members have been requests for information regarding the incidence of alcoholism following bariatric surgery.

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by Sayeed Ikramuddin, MD; Daniel Leslie, MD; Bryan A. Whitson, MD; and Todd A. Kellogg, MD, PhD

All from the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This article serves as an update of an article on the same topic published in Bariatric Times in September, 2005. (Ikramuddin S, Kellogg, TA. Energy Metabolism and Biochemistry of Obesity. Bariatric Times 2005;(2)5:37–9)

Introduction

Obesity, though clearly a result of energy excess in comparison to energy expenditure, has been difficult to establish as a disease. It is true that obesity is now occurring at epidemic proportions. In parallel, efforts to treat obesity are increasing. Currently, surgery is the only proven treatment resulting in sustained weight loss for the morbidly obese.[1] It is important to stress that surgery alone is not effective; however, surgery in a program of behavioral modification and sustained caloric reduction results in sustained weight loss greater than five years.

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by Margaret Houk, RN, BSN

Margi Houk, RN, BSN, is a case manager with Saint Mary’s Health Plans, Reno, Nevada.

My Journey to Surgery

I have struggled with my weight since my birth. It is a family disease; my older brother has also dealt with a lifelong battle against morbid obesity and all of its associated health problems. In the fall of 2002, my brother nearly died while on a hunting trip to Colorado from complications of being at a high altitude. He was in the ICU on a ventilator for seven days and was the forced to be dependent on a supplemental oxygen tank for a full year following the trip. That development was the slap in the face I needed; I suddenly saw myself going down the same path and realized that with my similar health and weight situation, I was staring at an untimely and young death looming on the near horizon.

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