been craving egg drop soup. My 26-year-old daughter has made a cou-
ple trips for me to the Chinese takeout place up the corner. Call it a
cheat meal if you will, but the soup agrees with me and the chicken
broth and wispy beaten eggs are high in protein. So far, so good.
The hunger hormone
There has been a 44% increase in bariatric procedures in the United
States since 2011. Sleeve gastrectomy is an increasingly popular
weight-loss surgery. I chose it because it's the least invasive and the
most effective. The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric
Surgery lists the most common bariatric surgeries as Roux-en-Y gas-
tric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, adjustable gastric band and biliopan-
creatic diversion with duodenal switch.
A fun-sized stomach is not the only key to the sleeve gastrectomy's
success. Yes, the new stomach pouch holds a considerably smaller
volume than the normal stomach and helps to significantly reduce the
amount of food (and thus calories) one can consume. But the greater
impact seems to be the effect the surgery has on gut hormones that
impact a number of factors, including hunger, satiety and blood sugar
control. The irreversible surgery removes part of the stomach that
makes the hormone ghrelin, which signals to the brain that you're
hungry. The "hunger hormone" stimulates appetite, increases food
intake and promotes fat storage.
Short-term studies show that the sleeve is as effective as Roux-en-Y
gastric bypass in terms of weight loss and improvement or remission
of diabetes. There is also evidence that suggests the sleeve, similar to
the gastric bypass, is effective in improving type 2 diabetes independ-
ent of the weight loss. The complication rates of the sleeve fall
between those of the adjustable gastric band and Roux-en-Y.
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