Shape Up America! sent an “Open Letter to Congress” in hopes to further the fight against morbidity related to obesity. Watch this week’s WLS News to find out more. Read the full story

Weight loss surgery is usually performed on white women with higher incomes and private health insurance, research shows. But disparities among racial and socio-economic lines puts low income patients at greater risk. Read the full story

Weight Loss Surgery for the Non-Obese?

Weight loss surgery is not just for the morbidly obese any more. That’s the conclusion of a research team from the University of Southampton in Britain.

In a new review — the third update of a review from 2002 — researchers examined 26 previously published studies on bariatric surgery involving nearly 5800 patients.

Five of the included trials took place in the United States. Specifically, two trials examined people of moderate obesity — with a body mass index between 30 and 40 — who had weight-related conditions such as type II diabetes.

After reviewing these 26 studies, the authors found that surgery simply works better at restoring patient health no matter what the level of obesity.

Simply put, patients below the standard weight loss surgery threshold of 35 BMI benefitted just as much from surgery as did those over a BMI of 35. Smaller patients—those with a BMI as low as 30, but still considered obese, saw similar reductions in type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and other co- morbidities of obesity.

Not all weight loss surgery procedures resulted in equal outcomes, however. The team found some evidence to suggest that gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy procedures resulted in a greater amount of weight loss than did adjustable gastric band surgeries.

Side effects and complications resulting from weight loss surgery seemed to be about the same in both moderately obese and morbidly obese patients.

There’s no doubt that weight loss surgery produces greater weight loss in less time than dieting and exercise can; the effect on the patient’s BMI with weight loss surgery is dramatic and rapid.

However, until now it’s been uncommon for doctors to recommend bariatric surgery to patients whose lives were not literally in jeopardy to some degree from obesity, and insurance carriers won’t cover the procedure for patients whose BMI does not qualify as morbidly obese.

If weight loss surgery for patients with non-life-threatening obesity becomes commonplace, demand for such surgery could be high.

Couple Denied Adoption Due to Father’s Weight

In the U.K., a local council recently refused to allow one couple to adopt because the husband’s body mass index was more than 42 – categorizing him as morbidly obese. The council cited the man’s weight-related “health and lifestyle issues” as the reason for rejection the couple’s request. There was a similar case here in the States in 2007, when a family court judge ruled a man unfit as an adoptive parent because he weighed 500 pounds. Although the National Council for Adoption says that obesity itself does not disqualify someone as an adoptive parent as long as their weight does not pose undue risks to the child, the organization does admit that the long-term health risks associated with obesity can be a cause for rejection in certain circumstances.

In the U.S., anyone who applies to adopt a child is subjected to a lengthy home study by a licensed social worker, which includes a detailed investigation of their backgrounds along with the living conditions, health, security, and safety of their home. Some people will argue, of course, that weight should not be a factor in judging a given couple’s fitness to adopt, as long as they are capable of providing a child with a healthy, happy home. But, others point out that children should not be adopted into families where one or both parents suffer from a potentially life-threatening disease.