Obesity is a public health problem, especially when we see that this obesity affects more and more children and younger and younger. Phenomenon accelerated by the Covid pandemic.
Obesity: a major health problem
Obesity is calculated according to the Body Mass Index (BMI), that is to say the relationship between weight and height. For the WHO, obesity is an excess of fat mass which has consequences for the body.
This true chronic disease has multifactorial causes. Stress, which can modify eating behaviors, can be a triggering factor for obesity. It also has health consequences: diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, sleep apnea.
There are also genetic factors, it is not uncommon for a family to have several obese people.
What methods to fight against obesity?
Childhood obesity has doubled in two years since the health crisis. This is a source of concern. More than one in ten 4-year-old children are overweight, according to a study by Public Health France.
For Jean-Pierre Faure, obesity surgeon at CHU Poitiers, diets are the basis for losing weight. The big difficulty is to hold on over time, everyone should maintain their diet, but it’s very difficult. There is often an effect of lassitude, a slackening and a resumption of weight and again a diet. What leads to significant variations in weight gain is the yoyo effect.
You don’t lose weight just by exercising.
Obesity represents real mental suffering and for the rest of the body. Patients need support on different aspects: medical, nutritional, physical activity.
bariatric surgery
Obesity surgery is proposed if medical treatment fails. In rare situations, this surgery will concern children. At the University Hospital of Poitiers, surgeons no longer fit gastric bands, which were very fashionable at one time. These rings tended to move and could create complications.
The sleeve gastrectomy is the removal of 80% of the volume of the stomach. The by-pass makes it possible to reduce the size of the stomach, to create a short circuit for eating less.
The surgery is very effective, but it is cumbersome in its post-operative follow-up.
Post-operative follow-up
There is no cure for obesity, you have to maintain a demanding lifestyle, including after surgery. The patient will maintain normal physical activity, but not against his way of eating will be radically different: you should not drink during meals, but 1/2 hour before and 1/2 hour after, you have to take your time to chew all food.
There is also body work after bariatric surgery, which leads to significant weight loss, which can involve cosmetic surgery to reduce the folds of the skin.