Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of medical treatments for overweight?

Answer 1

1. Advantages of medical treatment

a. Counseling and hypnosis

i. Increases one's self awareness of the inner dialogue that contributes to weight problems, for example, changing the thought "I've had a bad day so I deserve a treat; Ill have some fries" to "I deserve a treat; ill take a soothing bath"

b. Medications

i. Medications to produce weight loss include appetite suppressants - agents that alter certain neurotransmitters in the brain to make one feel less hungry - and a drug that blocks the absorption of fat from the intestines.

c. Surgery

i. Weight-reduction surgery is for people with a BMI over 40 or with a BMI between 35 and 40 who have severe weight-related medical conditions, such as Heart disease or type 3 Diabetes, and who have not responded to supervised diet and exercise regiments or drug therapy. Some involve constricting the stomach, which makes the person feel full after having consumed small amounts of food. Other methods involve surgically restructuring the gastrointestinal tract so that only a fraction of the food ingested in a meal is absorbed into the body and the activities of some of the nerves and hormones that control eating and metabolism are altered.

d. Liposuction

i. It is the surgical removal by suctions of fat stored under the skin and is not recommended as a substitute for proper diet, exercise, and counseling for weight loss and weight management. It is for shaping the body.

2. Disadvantages of medical treatment

a. Counseling and hypnosis

i. If one does not take advantage of the counseling and ignores advice

b. Medications

i. Drugs alone cannot produce significant weight loss, and generally any weight lost is regained when the drug is no longer taken. This is why health professionals consider medications to be an adjunct to lifestyle modification and not to be used alone to achieve weight loss.

c. Surgery

i. Weight-loss surgery does not return a person to a slim body shape; rather, it reduces the amount of body fat to a degree that the adverse health effects of extreme overweight are reduced. Weight-loss surgery carries a 1% risk of death, so it requires serious thought.

d. Liposuction

i. After the surgery, without attention to diet and exercise, fat may appear on other parts of the body, and in time, patients actually may gain weight. Annually, more than 450,000 liposuction procedures are performed in women and men in the United States by plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and other physicians. Liposuction is currently the most common cosmetic surgical procedure performed. Liposuction is surgically risky, and anyone considering it should investigate the procedure thoroughly. Although rare, deaths have occurred from liposuction.