Many women who opt for a surgical weight-loss procedure, do so because they would like to start a family. Chronic weight problems can have a detrimental effect on fertility, whilst bariatric surgery is known to dramatically increase the chances of conceiving. Not only that; surgery reduced the risks of pregnancy-associated complications…

Obesity is often said to be the last acceptable form of social prejudice and most people with weight problems have experienced “fat prejudice” of one form or another. However, their complaints are often dismissed as exaggerated or unreliable and there is a general attitude that their weight problems are self-inflicted. But it…

One of the most common myths about those who are trying to lose weight, is that they need detailed nutritional information. Yet, despite the vast number of dieticians and nutritional counsellors currently in practice, rates of obesity in the UK have remained stubbornly high. There is more information about “healthy eating” available…

Most people have heard of a gastric bypass – more usually called “stomach stapling” – but few are aware that there are actually two types of bypass surgery, rather than one. The standard bypass (also called Roux-en-Y) was developed in the US by Dr Edward Mason. in the 1960’s and remained the “gold-standard”…

Velleity is an interesting word.  It comes from the Latin velle ‘to wish’.  More broadly, the dictionary definition means a wish or inclination, not strong enough to lead to action.  Quite simply – good intentions.  And right now, we are in the season of good intentions, which closely follows the season of festivities –…

The typical Tour de France professional cyclist will burn somewhere between 5000 calories on an average race day.  As it happens, this is about the same number of calories consumed by the average person on Christmas Day.  The difference, of course, is that most of us don’t jump on our bikes for a 200km spin to burn this off.  Even…

It is widely believed that the gastric band works by creating a feeling of fullness (satiety) in the recipient. This feeling is believed to be due to stimulation of the vagus nerve which carries information from the body’s organs – including the stomach, pancreas and liver – to the brain. In the gastric band patient, food ingested…