26 July, 2013

More and more Indians getting weight loss surgeries

With diabetes and obesity on the increase in the country, weight reduction procedures or bariatric surgeries are in huge demand in the country, said an expert. ‘Bariatric surgeries are in huge demand. This is an indicator of the rising obesity and diabetes cases. There is a vast difference in the number of cases from five years ago,’ said Om Tantia, consultant bariatric and metabolic surgeon, ILS Hospital in Kolkata. India has the second largest number of diabetes patients with an estimated 61 million people affected. Nearly 140 million people in India have high blood pressure, which is 14 percent of the world’s total such patients. The surgical procedures performed on the stomach (such as sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass surgery) lead to long-term weight loss and resolution of diabetes. ‘The advantage is that diabetes is resolved in patients and those overweight lose 70 to 80 percent of their excess weight,’ said Tantia, adding that the risk factors are less than a percent.

For people who are over-weight and cannot shed the excess fat through lifestyle changes (including exercise), dietary control and drugs, bariatric surgeries become the best option. According to Tantia, the deciding factors for people who choose to go under the scalpel is the Body Mass Index (BMI). As per international protocols for the Asia Pacific region, BMI is pegged at 37.5 as the criterion.

‘People overweight by 30 to 40 kg are greatly benefited,’ said Tantia. A Live Workshop and Conference on Bariatric Surgery will be organized by ILS Hospital July 26-27.

Source: http://health.india.com

26.07.2013

Skipping breakfast could give you a heart attack!

Skipping breakfast could make you vulnerable to greater risk of heart attack, US researchers have warned. Health experts have suggested that older men not bothering to eat after getting up are a quarter more likely to have a cardiac arrest or die from coronary disease than those who do, Daily Mail reported.

According to the researchers, missing a morning meal or eating very late at night may trigger changes in the body’s metabolism that leads to coronary heart disease. It may also affect blood sugar and hormone levels that make heart disease more likely.

For their study spanning 16 years, the researchers tracked the health of 26,902 male health professionals aged 45-82 and asked them to complete a series of eating questionnaires. Altogether 1,572 men had a first-time ‘cardiac event’ during the period, said the study published in the medical journal Circulation.

Men who skipped breakfast were found to have a 27 percent higher risk of heart attack or death from coronary heart disease than breakfast eaters. The men who did not eat breakfast were younger than those who did, and were more likely to be smokers, employed full-time, unmarried, less physically active and to drink more alcohol. Men who ate after going to bed had a 55 percent higher coronary heart disease risk than those who did not, but it was a small minority of the total. 

Source: http://health.india.com

26.07.2013

When a man finds no peace within himself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere

L. A. Rouchefolicauld