Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric bypass surgery is a procedure that gets its name from what it forces food from a meal to do - to bypass the stomach (and a portion of the small intestine). Gastric bypass operations are the most popular, and most effective, techniques used to promote weight loss among severely overweight people. Surgeons who perform gastric bypass operations swear that it is the *only* effective method of ensuring long-term weight loss since, they believe, "diets just don't work."

So what is a gastric bypass?
Who should get a gastric bypass?
Why are gastric bypass operations performed?
How is a gastric bypass operation performed?
We'll try to answer these questions here.

Gastric bypass operations are a type of procedure, now commonly performed laparascopically (that is, using a fiber optic camera to "look inside" the body through tiny incisions or cuts in the skin), in which the walls of the stomach are stapled together, leaving a tiny pouch to receive food. The stomach is stapled into two compartments: a very small (about two ounces!) upper compartment connected to the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach); and a larger, lower compartment that food is no longer able to get to.

After creating these two compartments, the surgeon will cut the small intestine, well below the stomach, and bring the lower end of it up to the small pouch. This means that: a) only a small amount of food will fill the useful stomach (the two ounce pouch); b) you will feel full after only a few bites; and c) what little food you can eat no longer goes through the entire intestine - it "bypasses" most of the stomach and part of the stomach, so that less of it is absorbed.

This combination of effects from a gastric bypass operation means that very few calories are able to make it into your system. You eat less, feel full faster and absorb even less of what you eat. This makes gastric bypass operations very effective at promoting weight loss.

Gastric bypass surgery is performed on severely overweight people in order to help them lose weight. It is a very serious surgery, and careful consideration should be given before deciding to have gastric bypass surgery.