Weight Loss News

In the first operations of their kind in Northeastern USA, a bariatric surgery team at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, New York has performed a unique non-invasive weight loss procedure that uses a new device that reduces the size of a patient’s stomach without the need for any incisions.

Shawn Garber, MD, Chief of Bariatric Surgery at Mercy, is one of the first five surgeons in the United States to learn the StomaphyX(tm) procedure for endoluminal gastric pouch reduction in patients with previous gastric bypass surgery.

The procedure was performed on July 18 on five patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass in 2003 and had been gaining back some weight because of gradual expansion of their gastric pouches. All had their pouches successfully reduced using the new StomaphyX procedure.

“This is an important new option for the 15 to 20 percent of patients who gain weight a few years after undergoing bariatric surgery,” explained Dr. Garber, who heads the New York Bariatric Group. “Because it involves neither abdominal nor internal incisions, this technique is the least invasive, has the lowest risk, and allows patients to recover more quickly and return to their normal activities.”

Dr. Garber and his colleague, Spencer Holover, MD, have performed more than 2,000 weight loss surgeries with the specially-trained team at Mercy, which has been designated as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society For Bariatric Surgery.

“This dramatic advance is the future of bariatric surgery,” said Dr. Garber. “The endoluminal technique introduces the instrument that reduces the size of the stomach through the mouth, reducing the risk of infection from surgical incisions, preserving future treatment options, nearly eliminating pain for the patient, and requiring less recovery time than open or even minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedures.”

Acomplia for weight loss

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The word is out - young women want personally tailored nutrition advice and information when it comes to weight loss. Over 80% of young women are trying to lose weight but are confused about the best way to achieve this a study published by Wiley-Blackwell in the June 2007 issue of Nutrition & Dietetics - the official Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, including the Journal of the New Zealand Dietetic Association - has found.

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Even as an advisory panel of the US drug regulator voted last week against approving Sanofi Aventis’ blockbuster anti-obesity drug Acomplia (Rimonabant) citing adverse psychiatric risks, Indian companies which launched its generic copy say the drug is safe and do not plan any voluntary withdrawal from the market.

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Acomplia, the new weight-loss pill from Sanofi-Aventis, has not yet been approved in the United States because of questions about its safety. But some Americans have decided not to wait.

Many are traveling to Europe, where the drug has been approved, or buying the medicine through foreign Web sites, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues its evaluations of the treatment. On Monday, a panel of advisers to the agency said that the pill might raise the risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts.

"I don't have very many years to go, and I don't want to spend that time over 200 pounds," said Yvette Cardozo, a 62-year-old American photographer who bought six months' worth of Acomplia during a trip to London. "This is the only thing that's ever worked for me."

Twenty milligrams of Acomplia, the highest dose, resulted in statistically and clinically significant weight loss, the Food and Drug Administration's staff said in documents posted Monday on the agency's Web site. The agency advisory panel will meet Wednesday to discuss whether the medicine's benefits of reducing weight, cholesterol and blood sugar outweigh its risks.

Since clinical tests have shown that the drug can cause anxiety and depression, analysts said the panel might be cautious about approving it without seeing more studies.

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Filling up your stomach on calorie laden foods or low calorie bulky foods can make the difference of weight loss without hunger pains, and also promote long term weight loss goals. A study from the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State confirmed that healthy weight loss can be achieved without feeling hungry. The study was published in the June issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“Eating a diet that is low in calorie density allows people to eat satisfying portions of food, and this may decrease feelings of hunger and deprivation while reducing calories” said Dr. Julia A. Ello-Martin who conducted the study as part of her doctoral dissertation in the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State.

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Obese, postmenopausal age women who decide to trim down don't need to worry that they will put themselves in danger of disability by doing so, even if they don't exercise as recommended, a new study shows.

After losing a substantial amount of weight through diet, but without exercising, 23 obese women in their 50s showed no reduction in muscle strength or fitness, even though they had lost muscle mass, Dr. Jamehl Demons of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

"There was a trend actually toward increasing physical fitness," Demons told Reuters Health. "Our supposition is really that that was due to the weight loss itself."

People lose muscle mass as they age, and some experts have been concerned that weight loss late in life may accelerate muscle loss and increase the risk of disability.

To investigate, Demons and her team had 23 obese women eat 400 calories less per day for five months. They lost an average of 11.6 kilograms (about 26 pounds), 35 percent of which was lean mass or muscle. After the weight loss, the women showed no change in their walking speed or muscle strength. Their aerobic fitness and speed in rising from a chair had improved, although the change wasn't statistically significant.

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One of the hottest weight loss trends is detoxing, which is designed to help rid the body of harmful toxins. HealthFirst reporter Leslie LoBue says the promise is that away with the toxins are supposed to go your unwanted pounds.

Most detoxes or cleanses involve switching to an all liquid diet for a set period of time, and this one is no different. Lisa Lenning's kids keep her so busy, she had to work them into her weight loss routine. "My son, who is nine, goes to school and says, 'my mommy lost this amount of weight this week.'"

Lisa lost 58 pounds in three months. Dr. Channing Bolick put Lisa on his cleanse diet. it rids the body of toxins found in our environment, our food, even our makeup. Bolick says a woman will digest four pounds of lipstick over her lifetime - most of it toxic.

"The body will naturally surround a toxin with fat. so if you get the toxin out of the fat, the body will naturally burn the fat." The first two days include aloe Vera-based mineral drinks, snack tablets to keep your blood sugar level, and water  - lots of water!

"You take half your body weight, divide it in half and put ounces at the end," Bolick said. That means a 200 pound person would need to drink 100 ounces of water a day. You gradually add a protein shake and light lunches. Then it's back to water. But nutritionist Meredith Luce, and other experts,  question the theory.  "Instead of doing the aloe Vera, and all the other various things that go along with it, that getting realistic and recognizing that you've got to eat less."

Luce says it doesn't take nine,  but 21 days to break bad eating habits. Lisa is working hard to make sure her weight loss is permanent. You can actually do your own form of deter or cleansing without buying any extras. Cut out alcohol, sugar, nicotine and processed foods,  and make sure you drink tons of water.

You should also exercise to help circulation and help your body sweat out toxins. If you do choose a more radical cleanse don't go much longer than a couple of days.  Otherwise, you are potentially robbing your body of important nutrients.

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Rehabbed singer Britney Spears has embarked on her mission to lose weight, for she has begun her rigorous dance and exercise sessions. The ‘Toxic’ singer, who made a brief comeback show in a San Diego club, has already lost 15 pounds, burning 1,500 calories a day thanks to her dance regimen. At her dance practice sessions in Millennium Dance Complex, the 25-year-old gets to choose her list of dancers, reports the Star.

Apart from the dance classes, Spears does 500-1000 crunches at one go to work on her six-pack. Mother of two is also under strict diet and is also undergoing LipoDissolve treatment, which is a less invasive type of liposuction. Spears’ efforts have already begun to show, as one of her fans, who attended her comeback gig, said that Spears looked really great, and that she has made a comeback to prove she can still give her best.

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Diet drug rimonabant (Acomplia / Zimulti) has been approved by ANVISA, the Brazilian health authority, for sale in Latin America's largest country, drug-maker Sanofi-Aventis announced on April 26th.

Acomplia was approved by Brazil for use "as an adjunct to diet and exercise for the treatment of obese patients (BMI more than 30) or overweight patients (BMI more than 27) with associated risk factors, such as type 2 diabetes or dyslipidemia."

Brazil thus joins two other large countries, Argentina and Mexico, where the diet drug already is on the market.

Meanwhile, Acomplia Report has learned that the Netherlands has become the latest European country to reject insurance reimbursement for patients purchasing Acomplia.

The German state insurance system earlier classified Acomplia a life-style drug and rejected reimbursing patients, and the French government has agreed to provide partial coverage only for obese (not simply overweight) patients who also have inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes.

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Eggs may be more effective than other foods when used as part of a diet, according to a new study released by Louisiana State University researchers Sunday. Overweight women lost more weight during the course of their diets eating eggs for breakfast than they did eating bagels, according to the report, released at the annual meeting of Experimental Biology and funded by the Egg Nutrition Center and the American Egg Board.

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