Obese children are much more likely to develop a form of acid reflux known as GERD, which can cause heartburn and be a precursor to esophageal cancer. Read the full story

Obesity in women may increase their risk of Barrett’s Esophagus, a disease recognized as a precursor to esophageal cancer.  Get the details in this report from WLS News. Read the full story

Cancer rates among people who are obese continue to rise, new studies indicate. Watch this week’s WLS News to find out more. Read the full story

Watch this week’s WLS News to find out what effect obesity has on cancer rates, learn about the link between chronic stress and comfort food, and discover what researchers have to say about the high number of people who have been hospitalized for swine flu … and are also obese.  Plus, learn about new efforts in Asia to prevent diabetes– starting with children in infancy. All of these stories and a quick trip to the World Wide Web are in this week’s report. Read the full story

Swiss Study Supports Super Surgery

Evidence shows that weight loss surgery is not a cure for obesity. Unfortunately, many patients who undergo surgery and follow the recommended post-operative lifestyle never reach normal weight. However, a recent study by researchers from L’Hôpital du Chablais in Switzerland have found weight loss surgery makes life better for extremely obese patients, even if they never become thin.

The study, which appears in the April issue of the AMA’s Archives of Surgery, looked at BMI, obesity-related illnesses and quality of life in more than 600 cases of morbidly or super obese patients who had a laparoscopic gastric bypass between 1999 and 2006.

They found that six years after surgery the morbidly obese patients had lost about 30 percent of their body weight, while the super obese patients lost an average of nearly 31 percent body weight in the same timeframe. The super-obese, however had dramatically-improved blood chemistry, less sleep apnea, less acid reflux, and other improvements in general health.

The report concluded the surgery helps in a lot of ways – not only in terms of weight loss, but as a way to turn around the overall metabolic process that is detrimental to their health.