Latin American Destinations: Focus on Obesity and Bariatric Surgeries

[Janiels]

Facilities throughout Mexico, Central and South America have become world renowned for their ability to provide a variety of obesity and bariatric surgery procedures. Obesity surgery centers have become increasingly popular south of the border due to rising healthcare costs in the United States, coupled with long wait times.

Increasing numbers of North Americans, including Canadians, as well as individuals from Western Europe, are traveling to South American facilities such as the Antiobesity Center located in Cancun, Mexico or seeking the specialized services of experts like Dr. Marco More, bariatric surgeon in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bariatric weight loss surgery includes a variety of procedures, including laparoscopic gastric banding, gastric bypass, obesity plastic surgery, weight loss treatment facilities, banded and vertical gastroplasty, among others.

Weight Loss Options Attract Travelers
Growing numbers of obesity and weight loss clinics and hospitals offer U.S. board-certified bariatric surgeons such as Dr. Rodrigo Gonzalez of Angels Abroad, located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Improving quality of life and a wide selection of focused weight loss surgeries coupled with counseling and nutritional support, weight loss treatment facilities in Latin America has helped hundreds of formerly obese individuals seek not only healthier lifestyles but enjoy enhanced quality of life.

However, individuals seeking safe and effective weight loss procedures, treatments and surgeries must also be able to afford them. Unfortunately, the cost of bariatric surgeries in the United States prevents many from seeking help. In the United States, weight loss surgical procedures range in cost from $17,000 to $30,000 or more, not including hospitalization, consultations and lab fees. A sleeve gastrectomy procedure in the United States costs about $20,000, while the same procedure provided in Mexico averages around $10,000, and in Costa Rica, $9,000 - for all inclusive care. It's not difficult to understand what draws hundreds of patients to such facilities, offering quality, experienced and effective treatments.

Thanks for everything, I'm so glad that I spoke to you and found such a wonderful weight loss treatment. If you need to visit this hospital then feel free here: 1.303.578.0719, [email protected]

 

[waltky]

Granny says all Uncle Ferd's g/f's got the fat germ...

Bacteria find 'key to treating obesity without surgery'
28 March 2013 - Weight loss after gastric band surgery may be partly caused by changes to micro-organisms that live in the gut, say US researchers.

A study in mice has shown that surgery causes different types of bacteria to colonise the gut. Transferring samples of those bacteria into healthy mice caused them to rapidly lose weight without surgery. But the Harvard University researchers said they could not yet explain the mechanism behind their results. There are differences in the bacteria in the stomachs and intestines of obese people compared with those who are of a normal weight. And in people who have had gastric bypass operations to help them lose weight, the types of microbes that are found in the gut change.

In the latest study, researchers compared three groups of obese mice on a high-calorie diet.

One group was given a gastric bypass
One was given a sham operation, and the high-calorie diet continued
One was given the same fake operation but then fed a low-calorie diet to promote weight loss

A week later the mice who had undergone the real obesity surgery had different bacteria in their guts, with an increase in types usually seen in lean individuals and a drop in types associated with obesity. Three weeks after surgery they had lost about 30% of their bodyweight, the researchers reported in Science Translational Medicine. There was little change in micro-organisms present in the mice who had had sham operations, even though the group on the low-calorie diet lost just as much weight as the mice who had had the bypass surgery.

Metabolism impact

 

[waltky]

Granny says dey should put it inna pill an' call it No More Fatgirls...

Scientists Zero In On Gene Strongly Linked to Obesity
March 12, 2014 ~ Scientists say they have found what they believe is the gene strongly linked to obesity.

The study published in the scientific journal Nature shows that mice bred without the IRX-3 gene were 30 percent lighter than mice bred with the gene. Both groups of mice ate the same diet and exercised the same. But the thin mice were found to be resistant to diabetes and burned energy more efficiently.

The researchers say there is a similar gene in humans, and that their findings could lead to a drug to treat obesity and diabetes -- a disease sometimes linked to being overweight. Scientists from the University of Chicago led the study.

Obesity is a major global health problem, killing millions of people every year. Poor diet and little exercise are among the major causes of obesity, while the problem may be genetic in others.

Scientists Zero In On Gene Strongly Linked to Obesity

 

[waltky]

Granny says heck, she always knowed dat...

Researchers Discover How to Speed Metabolism
April 9th, 2014 ~ Have you ever wondered why some people can eat and eat but never gain weight while others easily put on pounds?

Scientists say that the body’s natural ability to control weight is tied to the body’s natural rate of burning energy, something called basal cellular metabolism. One of the reasons some people can eat without gaining weight is because they have higher metabolism rates. A research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has discovered that altering the biochemical process that underlies a cell’s ability to burn energy could help speed a person’s metabolism possibly leading to new therapies in the worldwide fight against obesity and diabetes.

“With this discovery, we now have a means of metabolic manipulation that could help speed energy production and lead to weight loss,” said senior author Barbara Kahn from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard Medical School. Writing in Nature, the Boston researchers’ said reducing the amount of the protein nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) in the fat and liver cells of mice slowed the development of obesity and diabetes in mice. At the same time, they also confirmed that obese and diabetic mice had higher levels of NNMT in their liver and fat.

From this key piece of information, the researchers speculated that cutting down the levels of NNMT in these cells would speed up a series of metabolic reactions involving an organic compound called polyamines. “Polyamines are a group of biological molecules that are found throughout the body, which have fundamental functions, including regulating cell growth,” said Daniel Kraus, a co-author of the study.

The accelerated metabolic reactions would increase the amount of calories the body burns as energy while at the same time would reduce the number of calories transformed into fat. “While diet and exercise are important in controlling weight, anti-obesity therapies could be of tremendous help, and NNMT looks to be a promising target for future therapeutic development,” said Kahn.

Researchers Discover How to Speed Metabolism « Science World