Wine And Gastric Bypass Surgery May Turn Out To Be A Dangerous Mixture

by

Don Saunders

After years of discussion we are finally coming around to the inevitable conclusion that surgery is the only truly successful and lasting answer to the problem of severe obesity. And it is most certainly not before time!

Today obesity is arguably the leading health problem in the Western world and in the US alone approximately 60 percent of the population is overweight, with nearly 24 percent being obese and 3 percent severely obese. Now 3 percent may not appear to be large figure but when you consider that it represents in excess of 9 million morbidly obese people this is a pretty big problem. Despite the fact that more and more attention is being turned towards the problem of obesity and its cure, it is surprising just how much we are still learning about the condition, including the affects of alcohol on individuals who have undergone gastric bypass surgery. For a time now there has been a fair amount of anecdotal evidence to suggest that individuals who have undergone weight loss surgery are more susceptible to the affects of alcohol but it was not until the end of last year that any real attempt was made to assess the extent or otherwise of the problem. In a fairly small-scale study the affects of alcohol on 19 individuals who had weight loss surgery was compared to the affects on 17 control subjects. The people in the study were each given a 5 ounce glass of red wine and their breath alcohol was then measured at 5 minute intervals until it had fallen back to zero. The study showed that alcohol levels reached a higher level in the weight loss patients and also took much longer to fall back to zero. However, most interestingly, the study also showed that just }a single|one} small glass of wine was sufficient to put the breath alcohol level in a number of weight loss surgery patients over the legal alcohol level for driving in several US states. The explanation for the added affects of alcohol on weight loss surgery patients is quite simple to understand because surgery both reduces the size of the stomach and bypasses part of the intestine, both areas of the body that are responsible for breaking down alcohol before it finds its way into the bloodstream. So exactly what does this mean for weight loss surgery patients? Well, apart from the clear need to exercise caution and most definitely to avoid driving after drinking even small quantities of alcohol, the implications for weight loss surgery patients do in fact go a little deeper. A particular problem is that alcohol acts as a relaxant and this can lead to problems with post-surgical weight loss and to maintaining weight loss. As alcohol relaxes the stomach, which includes the lower esophageal sphincter, together with the intestine, patients who enjoy alcohol can eat more and the presence of alcohol effectively counteracts the affects of surgery. As if this were not bad enough many individuals become more socially active following surgery and this frequently means an increasing consumption of alcohol. There will still need to be a great deal more research carried out but, in the end, the fact is that individuals who have gastric bypass surgery need to be aware of the possible risks of alcohol and act accordingly.

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