Obesity surgery works wonders on weight, but the follow-up of these operations can be a surprise.
Surprised indeed to realize that if this surgical treatment for obesity is very effective on weight loss, it would not be without side effects: it could promote a few years after the operation, the appearance of an addiction to the alcohol.
And more and more obesity surgery is being practiced.
Obesity surgery is indeed more and more often performed in the United States where one in 3 people is obese, but also in Europe. In France, one in 15 suffers from it. Obesity surgery, known as bariatric surgery, which has nothing to do with liposuction, makes it possible to reduce food intake. 36,000 operations of this type were performed in France in 2011. Various techniques exist, including the gastric band or bypass systems in the digestive tract. It is therefore a sustainable method that must be followed very closely to avoid dietary deficiencies, especially in vitamins.
A study concludes that the gastric band or other operations for obesity increase the risk of alcohol dependence.
American researchers have followed 2,400 operated and scrutinized their alcohol consumption. In the year before the operation, just over 7% of patients were addicted to alcohol. But 2 years later, they were almost 10% in this case, a 50% increase in risk. They were considered to have alcohol-related problems if, among other things, they were unable to stop drinking once they had started, or if they had memory loss related to their consumption.
How to explain these risks of dependence?
The authors do not explain the phenomenon very well and suggest the hypothesis of a particular transformation of alcohol due to the reduction in the size of the stomach and gastric bypass surgery. Men and young adults were the most vulnerable, as were those who had had gastric bypass surgery.
This study shows that this very spectacular method of weight loss is not trivial and should only be offered in the face of pathological obesity. it is not a comfort operation. If it provides important services in the face of diabetes, heart or joint problems to which obese people are exposed, it still opens the door to other more benign pathologies, but which must be anticipated. It is to be put in the weight of the scale …
Reference
Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery
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