According to Chinese epidemiological survey statistics, China’s overweight population has now reached 300 million, with up to 50 million people suffering from obesity. Please note that obesity is not just unattractive; obesity has been identified as a chronic disease. This is because obesity has been shown to be closely associated with type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver, lipid metabolism disorders, sleep apnea syndrome and other conditions. Surgical weight loss is still unfamiliar to most Chinese people. As a new medical option for obesity, how is this technology progressing internationally? Bariatric surgery first appeared in the 1950s and is now a very common weight loss treatment in Europe and the United States. The emergence of bariatric surgery is closely related to the onset of obesity. After the end of World War II, the United States rapidly entered an era of abundant and plentiful food, and there were over-nourished obese patients everywhere, and bariatric surgery was born. According to the statistics in 1998, more than 40,000 cases of obesity patients worldwide have undergone bariatric surgery, and in 2009, 220,000 cases of obesity patients in the United States underwent bariatric surgery in one year. However, bariatric surgery is really unfamiliar to Chinese people, and is more often mistaken as “liposuction surgery” for women to maintain their body shape. As a new medical option, our country has been implementing bariatric surgery since 2000 to improve the systemic symptoms of obese patients through surgery. Bariatric surgery not only enables obese patients to obtain significant and lasting weight loss, but also improves and solves many co-morbidities, such as: high blood pressure, high blood lipids, diabetes, etc. TH: Is it a new direction in the development of bariatric surgery that type II diabetes can be effectively treated through bariatric surgery? Actually, bariatric surgery for diabetes is a “beautiful accident”. Weight loss surgery was first used in the treatment of obesity. After 14 years of clinical follow-up, Dr. Pories in the United States accidentally found that this surgery could effectively lower blood sugar, and this method was better than the effect of drug hypoglycemia, and patients did not have to inject insulin after surgery, and did not have to take a variety of drugs to solve the problem of high blood sugar. Since then, the medical community has begun to use gastric bypass surgery to treat diabetes. In March 2011, the World Diabetes Federation officially issued a statement recognizing surgery as one of the effective means of diabetes treatment, and the Chinese Medical Association Diabetes Branch in China has now officially included In March 2011, the World Diabetes Federation has officially issued a statement recognizing surgery as one of the effective means of diabetes treatment, and China’s Chinese Medical Association Diabetes Branch has now officially included surgery for diabetes treatment in the Chinese Diabetes Control Guidelines. TH: How effective is weight loss in the treatment of diabetes? Does it recur? The most effective treatment for diabetes is gastric bypass, which is very effective and has a very low chance of recurrence. In 2004, the American Journal of Medicine conducted a follow-up survey of 22,094 diabetic patients from 136 research centers in Europe and the United States over 13 years. 76.8% of obese type II diabetes was completely relieved by gastric bypass surgery, and 86% of patients had significant long-term improvement. In recent years, individual centers have reported remission rates of more than 90% in patients with type II diabetes after surgery. TH: The famous footballer Maradona underwent weight loss surgery in 2005, and he lost more than 50 kg in one year. After 10 years of development, what new techniques are currently available for weight loss surgery? Maradona had gastric bypass surgery that year. There are three main methods of surgical weight reduction commonly used in the world of medicine: the first is the gastric bypass surgery done by Maradona, the principle is to change the structure of the intestine, close most of the stomach function, reduce the space of the stomach and the length of the small intestine; the second is called sleeve gastrectomy, by reducing the volume of the stomach, reducing the secretion of hormones that stimulate the production of hunger; the third is gastric banding, through the gastric band to reduce the volume of the stomach, which can control the amount of food. The third type is gastric banding, which reduces the volume of the stomach and allows control of food intake. The decision of which procedure to perform needs to be made after detailed communication with the doctor. TH: This is the era of thinness as beauty, and too many people are trying to slim themselves into a lightning bolt at any cost. As an expert in this field, who would you recommend to opt for a lighter and thinner body by way of surgery? Who is not suitable? First of all, to rule out a misconception, weight loss surgery is an effective means of making obese people beautiful and healthy, but not in the ordinary sense of losing weight. For those who perform this surgery, we will conduct a strict screening, which is quantified, i.e. obese patients are clearly diagnosed with type II diabetes and have a body mass index (BMI) > 27.5 kg/m2, are between 16 and 65 years old, and have a disease duration of no more than 15 years, to meet these conditions before they can be considered for weight loss and diabetes surgery. Patients with a body mass index (BMI) >32.5 kg/m2 diabetes are preferred for surgery, while obese patients with a BMI >35 kg/m2 should be treated aggressively with surgery regardless of whether they have comorbid diabetes. Simple slimming for non-obese people does not require surgery, attention should be paid to lifestyle changes, eating less and exercising more, aerobic exercise is recognized as the best way to lose weight in a healthy way. TH: What is the time and cost of this surgery respectively? How long does it take to recover? The duration of the surgery is between 1-3 hours and the cost of the surgery is around 30,000 RMB. A special reminder is that weight loss surgery is minimally invasive and the recovery is quick, with freedom of movement the day after surgery. Weight loss surgery will only leave 3-5 small scars of 0.5-1 cm on the abdomen, which does not affect the aesthetics of the body. Bariatric Specialist Private Sharing TH: As a bariatric surgeon, how do you usually control your weight? I usually have exercise planned no matter how busy I am. I am a firm believer that cardio is the best way to stay healthy (not just in good shape). I never overeat and I keep up with cardio 2-3 times a week, each exercise lasts about 90 minutes. I know that professionals are very busy nowadays, so I must know how to multitasking, for example, I will ride a bike while watching a football game. Sometimes I also choose to take a brisk walk on the treadmill. This way you can make the most of the time you have at home after work to actively build a healthy physique. It is important to note that brisk walking is not walking, and brisk walking is only effective if you maintain a pace of 15km/hour.