Some children get severely obese because they lack particular chunks of DNA, which kicks their hunger into overdrive, researchers report.

The British researchers checked the DNA of 300 children who’d become very fat, on the order of 220 pounds by age 10. They looked for deletions or extra copies of DNA segments.

They found evidence that several rare deletions may promote obesity, including one kind they studied further and found in less than 1 percent of about 1,200 severely obese children.

That deletion, on chromosome 16, apparently causes trouble because it removes a gene that the brain needs to respond to the appetite-controlling hormone leptin, said Dr. Sadaf Farooqi of Cambridge University.

In her study, children with a chromosome 16 DNA deletion “have a very strong drive to eat,” said Farooqi, who co-led the research. “They’re very, very hungry, they always want to eat.”

The work, reported online Sunday by the journal Nature, has already produced a real-world payoff. Farooqi said four children with the chromosome 16 deletion had drawn the attention of British child welfare authorities, who blamed the parents for overfeeding them.

“We were able to intervene” and get the parents of two children off the hook, and the other two cases are under discussion, she said. (more…)

October 19, 2009
Gastric Banding Surgery

Health Storm Center: Dr. Manny shows how a gastric band is placed for weight loss

By Linda Carroll

msnbc.com contributor

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32692882/ns/health-diabetes/

Obese women who manage to shed excess pounds before becoming pregnant may be able to break the cycle of inherited weight problems and pass along better health to their children, a new study shows.

Researchers found that children were less likely to become obese if their mothers lost significant weight through obesity surgery before becoming pregnant, according to an upcoming study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The children with the surgically slimmed mothers also looked to have a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes.

“We’ve shown that when the mother loses weight prior to becoming pregnant, the kid does not become obese,” said Dr. John Kral, study co-author and a professor of surgery and medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Other studies have shown that obese moms are more likely than slim women to have obese children, Kral said.

And the health risks associated with obesity are well-documented for both moms and babies, said Dr. Dominic Marchiano, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia.

But until now, it was unclear exactly how to break the cycle. (more…)

Losing 185kg (29 stones) in body weight might seem like an extreme way to get into the record books.

But that is what Manuel Uribe from Monterrey, Northern Mexico, has done.

Manuel says reading The Bible has encouraged him during his diet

Now the world’s heaviest man is on track to become the planet’s most successful slimmer.

Put another way, his weight loss in one year is the equivalent of shedding two fully grown adult males from his body.

Manuel is already in the latest edition of the Guinness World Records as the heaviest living person.

That’s because, not long ago he weighed 560kg (88 stones), or half a tonne.

Supervised diet

Supersized by nature, he has now downsized through diet and willpower.

A demonstration of how much weight Manuel Uribe lost

And that will put him in the record books again.

“Look at my face,” he says. “I have lost a lot.”

Manuel puts it all down to something called the Zone Diet.

The diet, supervised by a team of scientists and nutritionists, consists of a strict formula of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

It’s about controlling hormone levels in the body, particularly insulin and glucagons. (more…)

Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Bypass Effect: Stopping Diabetes? 

Gastric bypass surgery has long been an effective weapon in the battle against obesity, but could it also force type 2 diabetes into almost instant remission? If so, why aren’t more people eligible for the operation? Lesley Stahl went looking for answers.

http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/160/the_bypass_effect

This link will take you to 60 minutes where you can read the article and view several videos about the research. It’s a fascinating & informative look at the connections between diabetes & weightloss surgery!

Parte 2:

http://www.gastricband.com/blog/?p=24 - English Testimonies

Part 2:

http://www.gastricband.com/blog/?p=25 - Spanish Testimonies

March 27 (Bloomberg) — The only way Bridget Flanagan, a 21-year-old college student from Olympia, Washington, could afford the obesity surgery she needed was to go to Mexico. Her health insurance didn’t cover the treatment.

Traveling 2,000 miles for gastric banding surgery at Hospital San Jose in Monterrey, Mexico, saved her $6,600, making it affordable. The procedure was a success, allowing five-foot- tall Bridget to drop 45 pounds so far off her peak weight of 275.

Health-care companies and investors see a new market in patients like Flanagan. Tecnologico de Monterrey, the private university that owns San Jose Hospital, plans a $100 million medical center in Monterrey. (more…)

Adjustable gastric banding is much more effective long-term than a very low-calorie diet for people who are about 50 pounds overweight, a study shows.

Medical guidelines support this surgical procedure — which puts a band around the top of stomach to create a feeling of fullness — in patients who are extremely obese, about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, or those who are almost as overweight and have serious medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia, recruited 80 patients who were on average 52 pounds over a healthy weight. Half had the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery.

The other half followed a medical program that included a variety of strategies such as a very-low-calorie diet (500 calories a day) with liquid meal replacements, prescription weight-loss medication and behavioral therapies.

Findings in today’s Annals of Internal Medicine: (more…)