metabolic syndrome

Obesity Must Be Recognized As a Disease

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity ,

In a recent article in the Lancet, it was pointed out that Portugal has officially recognized Obesity as a chronic disease since 2004, but remains the only country in Europe to do so.

Although the UK as a whole does not recognize obesity as a disease, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network did in 2010. The American Medical Association officially recognized Obesity as a disease and 2013 and the Canadian Medical Association followed suit in 2015.   In Canada, many Canadians who need obesity treatment must still pay for care because federal and local governments have not officially recognized the position of the Canadian Medical Association which has also recognized Obesity as a disease.

Recognizing Obesity as a treatable disease rather than a failure of will or a character flaw allows attention to be directed at correcting the chemical imbalance, a series of morbidies resultant from an accumulation of “belly fat, ” the visceral fat buried deep within the abdomen – sleep apnea, GERD, hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes mellitus, and an increased propensity for autoimmune diseases and cancers.  This visceral fat acts as an evil gland pouring its noxious cellular hormones directly into the liver and hijacking the body’s metabolism.

Recognizing Obesity as a disease clearly has economic consequences for national health care policies and insurance premiums in general.  But are not the impairments of GDP resulting from an impaired labor force and societal costs of ignoring the problem likely to be far greater if the disease is not recognized and treated early?   For example, the resultant Type 2 Diabetes is the most frequent cause of kidney failure requiring dialysis, the indication for over half of non-traumatic amputations, and a frequent cause of blindness.  These complications alone have devastating financial and social consequences.

Of course, Obesity must be recognized as a disease by all nations and attention directed to its early recognition and treatment.    This writer always capitalizes the “O” in Obesity to call attention to that fact and indicate it as such.

McKinsey’s Obesity Prevalence Projections May be LOW!

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA bariatric surgery, Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity , ,

McKinsey Global Institute has projected that by 2030, 50% of the world’s population will be obese and the annual cost of Obesity-related disease expenditures will have risen to $17,000,000,000,000.

An article in the Arab News reported that 70% of the Saudi’s are obese.   With Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes galloping along in developed nations, the terrifying fact is that McKinsey’s projections may underestimate the problem!

Let us hope that, by allowing us to directly and safely remove the visceral fat that is the origin of the problem, Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy (“EVL”) can avoid the progression of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes and reverse it, and give us a weapon to slow the rising prevalence of this disease.  I entreat all reading this post to help make BioSculpture Technology’s DPO a success so we may be able to offer EVL to the 2.1 Billion people about the globe who may benefit from it.  Your investment may be both impactful and profitable.

The Public Speaks: Tackle the Type 2 Diabetes Problem Directly

Robert Cucin MD JD MBA bariatric surgery, Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity , ,

AP (3/8/17) reports that fewer obese people are trying to loose weight than in prior years and researchers wonder if fat acceptance could be one of the reasons. Given enlarging meal portions, mainstream plus size models, re-scaling of clothing sizes, and popular overweight leads in sitcoms, the hypothesis seems not just tenable but proven.  The frequent inability of patients to keep weight off after losing it with diet and exercise, or sometimes even after bariatric surgery undoubtedly contributes to this shift.  It is not at all unlikely that the political correctness to avoid the subject of weight also prevents some of the peer pressure that might conceivably reinforce the dieter’s decision to pass up that extra French fry.

Some studies have implicated some infections that could be partially behind the obesity epidemic.  Researchers have found evidence to suggest  that infection with the common Adenovirus-36 leads the body to create more and fatter stem cells.    This observer concludes the AP report alone suggests that Obesity is at least socially contagious because the increased prevalence of Obesity has already spurred a change in social mores.

Obesity is not the morbidity itself though it does create a cardiovascular load, mechanical stress on the joints, and promote sleep apnea and gastric reflux.  There are some healthy obese patients, mostly younger patients who exercise regularly, who haven’t yet developed metabolic syndrome or who are genetically gifted not to do so.  The Public Enemy #1 is the Type II Diabetes associated with the metabolic syndrome which frequently complicates Obesity.  There are an estimated 29 million Type II Diabetics in the U.S.  Type II Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure needing dialysis, the most frequent indication for non-traumatic amputations, and a leading cause of blindness.

As it is the visceral or “belly fat” within the abdomen which secretes resistin, a cellular hormone which antagonizes the body’s own insulin to cause Type II Diabetes, reducing the size of that noxious cytokine factory which functions as a life-shortening gland with Endoscopic Visceral Lipectomy (EVL) is a direct approach to the problem.  Incidentally, the patient might cinch his or her belt a notch or two right off the operating table and is expected loose a great deal of body weight afterwards.  But the restoration of normal metabolism and amelioration of Type II Diabetes is the immediate goal of the procedure.  Though less attention by patients to their weight is not at all a pleasing finding for physicians, it does suggest the public has already recognized the need to retarget our emphasis!  EVL does so.