Obesity Surgery: The best option?

Obesity is a disease that affects 34% of the American adult population.  Statistics show that obesity has steadily increased since 1960, resulting in more and more health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.  While it has a strong genetic component, it is irresponsible to only blame your family for passing on bad genes.  Your environment is a huge contributor to weight.  Diet and exercise are the deciding factors in many cases of obesity, and unfortunately, physical activity isn't required to function in our society.

Obesity surgery, especially gastric bypass and gastric banding, have become more and more common as the number of overweight citizens increase.  Obviously, in many situations, surgery might be the best option to save someone's life or to prevent health problems.  However, the availability of these surgeries devalues the benefits of a good diet and exercise.  A recent article in the New York Times discussed how the FDA is considering lowering how obese someone must be to qualify for the Lap-Band device, which restricts intake to the stomach.  If the FDA approves this change, the number of Americans eligible for the Lap-Band operation could easily double.   These surgeries give people more opportunities to take the "easy way out."  Long-term weight reduction is hard to maintain after the surgery because many Americans do not eat healthy or exercise.  They expect the surgery to take care of their weight problems.  I am not discrediting obesity surgery as a legitimate way to help people, but the focus should be more on educating Americans about healthy lifestyle choices instead of making surgery more available.