Now I know I am terrible with remembering who wrote what research and I'm even more terrible at remembering numbers (except for the ever important one I will write about a bit later on) so if you want the stats, the actual research papers (and most of the links to them) I suggest you peruse the awesome Ragen's blog Dances With Fat. You can do that by clicking here.
So let's start at the beginning, a good place to start I think.
A couple of days ago my Mum had severe abdominal pain. Doubling over, tear jerking, stomach holding pain. She is a medical receptionist so her boss (the GP) sent her off for blood tests, an ECG and an ultrasound, with the idea she might have gallstones.
The tests came back today with the diagnosis of NAFLD - Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Click here for the wiki explanation.
The GP is prescribing laparoscopic lap band surgery.
For anyone who has even a tiny bit of knowledge as to what this is knows that there are some severe risks involved. But, apparently, those risks are not worth the time or effort to talk about as losing weight is the ultimate "cure" for NAFLD. Never mind that the more "mild" causes/associations to getting NAFLD are insuline resistance, diabetes mellitus (more commonly known as adult onset diabetes) and hyperlipemia (very basically; high cholesterol and high triglycerides).
Now, we know from research that moderate exercise 30 minutes a day at least five times a week does, in fact, improve cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides. It does not always lead to weight loss. Weight loss does not equal health.
Now, since diabetes does actually become manageable with improved fitness (again, not always weight loss) and since cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides also improve with fitness, wouldn't the most logical prescription be to increase fitness?
Apparently not.
It's may be because 95% of people will regain weight lost within 2 - 5 years. 95% of people. So the "cure" to all these diseases and illnesses only has a 5% success rate. Since when does a 5% success rate equate to a reasonable diagnosis? Anyway, I'm rambling a little here, so let's get back on track.
Since 95% of people will fail at this prescription of weight loss, the doctor (and right now I'm using that term lightly) has decided to basically say "you're useless so we'll control your stomach for you by placing a band around the top of your stomach to stop you from eating, well, anything".
Okay, I may have added a little creative flair in there but the result is the same. And yes, lap bands are removable and they can actually be adjusted so they are, therefore, less "dangerous" than permanently decreasing stomach size or bypassing it almost entirely. (I shudder at the thought).
I still have a problem with this "prescription". It's still not safe and there are more horror stories of things going terribly wrong than there are of things working the way "it's meant to".
I'm so mad I want to scream from the rooftops "WEIGHT IS NOT HEALTH" and have everyone finally understand the difference. Damn, if only it were that easy.
Luckily, my Mum has no intention of having lap band surgery. She would rather improve her fitness and see the benefits of that decision improve her health across the board.
Still, I remain seething that such a drastic "prescription" was even mentioned when simply improving fitness and (in some cases) medication can achieve the same result. Granted, it may take longer, but the result is beneficial for her overall health, not just "getting the fat off your stomach".
Just to reiterate, improving fitness will improve your health. In some cases it never leads to any weight loss. And you know what? That's perfectly okay.
