St. Joseph's Healthcare System

Sohail N. Shaikh, MD, Interventional Gastroenterologist gives advice on Obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control over 60% of Americans are overweight and 30% obese. There's been a dramatic rise over the last 2 decades now affecting more than 1 million Americans. All of this has resulted in more than 300,000 deaths per year and where now obesity is more prevalent than hunger. There are many health risks to obesity including heart disease, stroke, hypertension and cancer. Obesity cancers include Endometrial, Colon, Kidney, Gallbladder, and Breast. Obesity is defined by your body mass index which is a ratio of your height and weight typically defined greater than 30. The International Classification of Adult Obesity According to BMI states that Obese class I has a bmi rating of 30.00 - 34.99, Class II 35.00 - 39.99 and Class III > or = 40.00. Diet and Exercise as well as surgery play important roles in combating obesity. Current guidelines permit surgery for those with a BMI over 35 depending on your health condition. Traditional weight loss surgeries include Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass, Gastric Banding, Sleeve Gastrectomy, and more advanced novel endoscopic techniques are now available. New Endoscopic procedures can result in shorter recovery time, little to no pain, and can be performed without external incisions.