Research Reveals A Possible Reason For Failure To Shed Weight Following Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric bypass surgery is proving to be a lifesaver for a lot of us as the problem of obesity sweeps across much of the western world but its biggest problem lies in the fact that a significant number of us either fail to lose a reasonable amount of weight after surgery or subsequently put back much of the weight which is lost.There are of course various reasons for this failure to lose weight or to put on weight again and at the top of the list in without doubt the fact that far too many people simply find it impossible to make the lifestyle changes needed after surgery and simply eat themselves back to obesity. However, researchers have now discovered a genetic component which might account for some people's failure to lose weight after a gastric bypass.In a recent study involving more than seven hundred morbidly obese individuals blood samples were tested for the presence of two single nucleotide polymorphisma (SNPs). In simple terms a SNP is a human DNA sequence, variations of the pattern in which may indicate how people will develop diseases and respond to such things as drugs and vaccines. Without taking you through the details of this study which are more than a little complicated, the researchers discovered that just under twenty percent of the people examined showed a combination of particular SNPs which indicate they are at risk of not merely failing to lose weight after gastric bypass surgery, but could actually be at risk of gaining weight.The problem we face today is not mainly that of finding an answer for those people who suffer from obesity, but of preventing obesity to start with and this is essentially a matter of education. There is no doubt that a minority of people are prone to obesity and genetics and similar factors could well play a part in this. Nonetheless, by far the majority of the obesity that we today arises out of nothing more than bad eating habits and a failure to take enough exercise.The true problem however is that when people are obese it is human nature to try to find any reason for their obesity which removes that guilty feeling brought on by the fact that they may just have caused the problem themselves. Now what better excuse could you give somebody than to say to them that their weight problem is genetic.This is not to suggest that research into SNPs is not valid or to suggest that there is no genetic link to the failure to lose weight or to regain weight following gastric bypass surgery. The danger however lies in publishing this information too early in the research process and to simply hand people another excuse for not dealing with their obesity at a time when obesity is at epidemic proportions and more significantly is increasingly being seen in children at earlier and earlier ages.Research is important and needs to be given its proper place in the overall scheme of things but we must be careful to ensure that it does not sidetrack us from the need to deal with the problem of obesity by educating people to alter their eating habits and to take enough exercise.