It’s common for weight-watchers to put on all the weight they lost again and again. This has caused many obese people to opt for the gastric bypass surgery.
Gastric bypass surgery solves the problem by reducing the size of the stomach, this alters an obese person’s cravings and metabolism.
Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Carolina did a research on the long-term effect of the gastric bypass surgery. 1,787 veterans who underwent the gastric bypass surgery were monitored. Their records showed that one year after surgery patients lost 98 pounds on average while ten years later, they gained back only about 7 pounds.
Previous studies have, however, implied that patients of gastric bypass surgery will eventually gain the weight. Ironically the research for these studies usually spanned 1-3 years.
However, this study, which was described by NPR as “one of the largest and longest to evaluate the surgery’s effects on weight loss” and which was published on August 31, showed the opposite.
An analysis of the data in the research showed that rather than seeing a decline in weight loss or the return of excessive weight previously lost, the opposite was recorded.
97% of the participants were shown to have gained a few pounds in the first few years of the surgery, with most even maintaining their weight for years and consequently losing some more. Only about 3% were shown to have gained the full weight lost years before.
Dr David Arterburn, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, who analysed the data said the surgery likely slows down their metabolic rate.
“Even though they’re taking in a whole lot less calories than they were before, they don’t feel a constant urge to eat, and it’s not just a reduction in the size of the stomach. They don’t feel hungry in between meals,” he said.