Here's a startling article I read in USA Today the other night. The article explains how gastric bypass in teens can "cure diabetes." The study was performed on teens ages 13 to 21, and it showed that all but one subject lost weight and went off medicine.
Of course, some will hail this as success when to me it is anything but. I think only certain medical doctors would call this a success - those with a perspective that surgery and drugs are preferred options for health problems. Someone who believes in preventive health and treating the root cause of problems (like myself) would be appalled.
Whatever happened to proper eating and exercise as a way to treat diabetes? If bad eating is the cause of diabetes (and it is), then why shouldn't that be the focus of treatment? I really question whether it's even ethical to perform this type of surgery on teens. Unless it's a life-or-death situation, I can't see any justification for performing such surgeries. If a teen is obese, then they should be enrolled in some type of intensive eating and behavior program. And where are the parents in all of this? I don't think 13-year olds are out their buying their own groceries. Why aren't the parents managing the available foods?
This is just what America needs - another quick fix weight loss solution that is doomed to failure. No one knows the long-term complications of gastric bypass surgery. If you open someone up and staple part of their stomach shut, wouldn't common sense tell you there might be side effects?
A doctor in the story even said, "there is no known cure for type 2 diabetes." This is in spite of the fact that many doctors treat diabetes by managing dietary carbohydrates. In one recent study, it took only three weeks of diet and exercise to get diabetes under control. However, this wasn't referred to as a "cure" because it was noted that the subjects would have to continue with the diet and exercise changes to keep diabetes at bay.
In other words, there is a "cure" for diabetes, and it is a long-term plan of healthy eating and exercise. But this requires effort in order to be successful. Instead of encouraging this effort, doctors offer gastric bypass as a shortcut. This strikes me as ridiculous. If doctors really care about their patients, they should encourage them to achieve better health by proper eating and exercise - not with drugs and surgery.
