The Price of Prosperity?

For a nation like India, economic progress is obviously a wonderful thing. A country once largely associated in the West with searing poverty and frequent famine, has become the nation we associate with a high-tech, Bollywood entertainment, and a massive outsourcing industry. However, obesity has emerged as a serious problem in India's increasingly bustling and well-developed cities. Just as you can find bariatric surgery in Simi Valley/Thousand Oaks at our offices, you can also now find it in New Delhi and other cities in the massive nation.

According to an article appearing in today's Washington Post, some 18,000 East Indians had the surgery last year, up 500 from the year before. Also, three government ministers have followed the lead of countless American notables and obtained a weight loss procedure. While it's not clear from the article whether the latest operations, such as sleeve gastrectomy, have taken hold, there certainly seems to be little sign that obesity will not expand to U.S.-like proportions as the successfully developing nation continues to grow beyond a third-world economy.

This begs an interesting question that is of special interest to us here at University Bariatrics. While weight loss surgeries are becoming ever more safe and effective, is there a way to stop obesity before it starts as nations grow more affluent and high-calorie foods become ever cheaper? Other than educating parents on ways to prevent childhood obesity, we don't have any grand answers. If anyone out there has any thoughts we'd love to hear from you.

An International Problem

At University Bariatrics, we're obviously very concerned about the obesity epidemic in the United States. However, while the stereotype of the overweight American has never been more widespread, the fact of the  matter is that the problem of severe obesity is spreading around the world. While some of the blame might fall on the worldwide popularity of U.S.-made junk food and sugary sodas from such purveyors as McDonald's and Coca-Cola, it's clear that something more is going on.

While it's probably not too surprising that, along with the growing issue of obesity, the popularity of such procedures as sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypasses in such nations as Saudi Arabia and the UK is increasing, it might be time to consider the possibility that this is not so much an American problem as a side-effect of the combined phenenom of relative prosperity and the wide availability of inexpensive empty calories in more well-off nations.

The good news, we suppose, is that weight loss procedures in London and Riyadh are proving to be as successful as bariatric surgery in Simi Valley. In fact, England's National Health Service has noted that the procedures are saving money over the long term by preventing the need for more serious and expensive interventions later on.

Of course, we're concerned with fighting the war on at obesity here at home. If you or a loved one is suffering from severe obesity and is considering a surgical approach to dealing with this potentially deadly and debilitating problem, we are here to help.

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

It's Halloween. While there's obviously an enormous difference between the enjoyable creepiness of the holiday and the big fears about life and death from which we all suffer to some degree, it's as good a day as any for addressing the topic of fear. After all, Halloween is a day in which we, in a sense, make friends with the things we fear.

At University Bariatrics, we're no different than any other medical office in that we regularly deal with patient's fears. Before undergoing a procedures such as a gastric bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy
it's only human to have some concerns that can make many of us somewhat fearful. While all surgeries carry some risk, we've made great strides in the bariatric field and our procedures are now no more risky than many routine operations.

The important thing, however, is to not be ruled by fear of change or the unknown. After all, when dealing with a condition like severe obesity, the greatest risk of all is doing nothing. As Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The devil we know is, in fact, a devil. Change is often absolutely necessary.

In a funny way, Halloween -- the day when we choose to face our fears and engage in all kinds of fantasies -- is as good a day to fight excessive fear as any. After all, after thinking about vampires, zombies apocalypses and the like, competently performed bariatric surgery in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks might not seem so scary at all!