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.”

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.

Once approved, Acomplia might be used by millions who just want to shed a few pounds, says Nick Turner, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities in London. As a result, side effects not revealed in patient trials could arise, he said.

"The major issue with Acomplia appears to be the neurological or mood disorders," said Turner, who has a neutral rating on Sanofi stock. "People won't take this drug because it helps their diabetes, they'll take it because somebody promises them that they'll become slim."

Sanofi has predicted at least $3 billion in annual revenue from the drug. Shares of Sanofi fell 5 cents Monday to close at €67.52 in Paris.

Sanofi officials have repeatedly said that the drug was not for those trying to fit into a party dress.

"Acomplia is not a cosmetic product," Gerard Le Fur, the chief executive of the company, said at the company's annual meeting in May.

The French drugmaker needs the medicine to shore up its activities in the United States, where a third of the population is considered obese, as its older best-sellers, like the sleeping pill Ambien, lose patent protection.

Sanofi had expected Acomplia to be approved last year, but the Food and Drug Administration demanded more information in February 2006. This year, Sanofi said the FDA would need until July to complete its review.

Patients given the highest dose of the drug lost an average 5.3 kilograms, or 11.7 pounds, over a one-year period compared with a weight loss of 1.4 kilograms among patients given a placebo.

Cardozo, the photographer, said that she had lost 20 pounds since restarting treatment after participating in Sanofi clinical trials five years ago. She lost 30 pounds during those tests, and said Acomplia was the only drug that had helped her shake excess weight that had plagued her since her teens.

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"If I have a drug that's gone through clinical trials and is not poison, and it works for me, then I'm happy to take it," said Cardozo, who is 5 feet 7 inches, or 1.7 meters, tall and weighs 190 pounds.

Resources: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/11/business/fat.php

Very little has been studied on the impact of diets that have low calorie density foods and body weight.

“Such diets are known to reduce the intake of calories in the short term, but their role in promoting weight loss over the long term was not clear,” said Dr. Barbara J. Rolls, who directed the study and who holds the Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State.

“We have now shown that choosing foods that are low in calorie density helps in losing weight, without the restrictive messages of other weight loss diets,” explained Ello-Martin.

The study included 71 obese women ranging in age from 22 to 60 to participate in testing out two different dieting models. One diet consisted of reducing fat with the other focused on water-rich foods that were also reduced in fat. The participants were educated by dieticians for making healthy food choice in the assigned diet criteria. Both groups were not limited on counting calories and were free to eat as much as they wanted.

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The good news is that both groups lost weight, but the water-rich food group lost the most weight during the first six months. The water-rich low calorie density food participants lost on aver 19.6 pounds compared to 14.7 pounds with the other group.

The weight loss maintained the weight loss after the second six months group. The women that ate the water-rich foods also ate 25 percent more food by weight, and reported less hunger pains compared to the reduced-fat diet group.

“By eating more fruits and vegetables they were able to eat more food, and this probably helped them to stick to their diet and lose more weight,” said Ello-Martin.

“The Volumetrics Eating Plan” (2007) and “The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan” (2000) are two books that focus on eating low-calorie density foods.

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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Despite the findings, Demons said, exercising is recommended for older people who are trying to lose weight through dieting, because it will help them to preserve muscle mass and build fitness.

The question of whether unintentional weight loss will reduce strength among older women remains unanswered, she added.

Resources: http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKSPI05915620070510

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.

Resources : http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=healthfirst&id=5288852

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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“I think she worked the stage, her body looked great. So it was good to see her finally come back and prove us all wrong,” the fan said.

Spears' last major show in June, 2004 was her Onyx Hotel Tour in Ireland. (ANI)

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.

-- Females who lost weight averaged 7.6 hours of physical activity a week, and males 11.7 a week.

-- Females were more likely to participate in weight training and strengthening exercises.

-- Teens who lost weight spent significantly less time in front of the television compared to those who gained weight.

In a previously published study, Brehm and her colleagues compared the effects of a low-carbohydrate diet versus a low-fat diet among obese women. They found that the women on the low-carbohydrate diet lost more than twice as much weight as those in the comparison group during a six-month study period.

The researchers hypothesized that the greater weight loss among those on the low-carbohydrate diet was due to the women’s greater energy expenditure. "If it’s not calories in, it must be calories out," Brehm told. Some advocates of low-carbohydrate diets say that such diets promote increased energy expenditure, but this claim has not been formally tested, until now.

To investigate, Brehm and her team randomly assigned 50 moderately obese women to a low-carbohydrate diet group or a low-fat diet group. Only the low-fat group was told to restrict their caloric intake. Forty women completed the study.

By the end of the four-month study, women in both groups had lost weight and body fat, the researchers report in this month’s issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. However, the low-carbohydrate group lost more than 10 percent of their body weight, while the low-fat group lost about 7 percent. Specifically, the low-carbohydrate group lost 9.8 kilograms (21.6 pounds) of weight and 6.2 kilograms (13.7 pounds) of body fat, while the low-fat group lost about 6.1 kilograms (13 pounds) of weight and 3.2 kilograms (7 pounds) of body fat, the report indicates.

To estimate their level of physical activity, women in both groups were fitted with pedometers, which recorded the number of steps they took daily. At the start of the study, both groups of women had similar pedometer readings, and by the end of the study, there were no significant changes, according to Brehm and her team. Resting energy expenditure was also similar between the two groups at the start of the study and remained comparable four months later.

The thermic effect of food (TEF), which comprises up to 10 percent of the amount of energy consumed daily, includes the energy expended during digestion. When the investigators obtained TEF measurements after the women ate breakfasts containing a similar number of calories, they found that those on the low-fat diet expended more energy in a five-hour period.

This suggests that the low-fat meal was absorbed more quickly than the low-carbohydrate meal, the report indicates. Yet, even if the TEF of the low-carbohydrate meal had been underestimated, the researchers "would not have approached the amount of energy needed to account for the greater weight loss in this group," they write.

"These results confirm that short-term weight loss is greater in obese women on a low-carbohydrate diet than in those on a low-fat diet even when reported food intake is similar," according to Brehm and her team. Weight loss by diet pills like acomplia is not a bad solution for treatment of obesity.

Resources: http://www.onlinenews.com.pk

This does not make for a healthy person and although I can feel the weight piling on, I would rather have a gastric band fitted than go to the gym. Looking for any easy way out, I was eternally grateful to receive two boxes from a kind friend, one labelled Wrap Factor and the other Patch Factor.

These two modest-looking boxes promised to help me lose inches within an hour and pull toxins out of my feet in five days. If this turned out to be true, what a perfect life it could be - eating and drinking until close to bursting point by day; waiting for the patches and bandages to work their magic by night.

The products, by Body Boutique contain simple instructions on how to use them and filled me with hope that this may be the answer. Squeamish as I am, I became a little reluctant when I read Wrap Factor is not a water loss wrap but a poultice - isn't that something you put on boils?

But I decided to give it a go anyway and soaked the re-usable bandages in hot water and clay mix before wrapping them around my stomach and relaxing for an hour. The bandages don't feel particularly pleasant but in the belief it would be doing me good I didn't mind too much.

I only managed to lose half an inch each off my hips and waist but apparently because of the clay being absorbed you can keep losing weight for a few days afterwards. Patch Factor seemed even simpler (although it was still a poultice) and promised to detoxify me after a good night's sleep.

The patches should be stuck on your feet soles for five nights in a row to help with aches and pains and claim to re-energise. They can even be used on other painful areas such as the back and shoulders. After leaving them on for seven hours I did get a better night's sleep but am unsure how much I was detoxed.

Resource: http://icsurreyonline.icnetwork.co.uk

Weight loss by diet pills like acomplia is an easy solution for making slim and smart.

The study found that the syndrome occurs most often in people who have frequent vomiting after the surgery. It usually occurs within one to three months after the surgery, although one case occurred 18 months after surgery.

The study reviewed the scientific literature for all reported cases of the syndrome occurring after obesity surgery. A total of 32 cases had been reported. Many of the people also had neurological symptoms that are not typical of Wernicke encephalopathy, such as seizures, deafness, psychosis, muscle weakness, and pain or numbness in the feet or hands.

“When people who have had weight loss surgery start experiencing any of these symptoms, they need to see a doctor right away,” said study author Sonal Singh, MD, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “Doctors should consider vitamin B1 deficiency and Wernicke encephalopathy when they see patients with these types of neurological complications after weight loss surgery. If treated promptly, the outlook is usually good.”

For treatment, patients are given vitamin B1 through an IV or injection. Of the 32 people, 13 made a full recovery. Many people continued to have problems, such as memory problems, weakness, or difficulty coordinating movement.

Singh said more studies are needed to determine how often the syndrome occurs after weight loss surgery. He said some doctors prescribe thiamine supplementation for their patients after weight loss surgery, but recommends that national standards be set for all doctors to follow.