Thousands of more stomach-shrinking operations need to be carried out in the UK, say, surgeons, who warn the country is lagging behind the rest of Europe despite the toll being taken on people’s health and warnings that the obesity crisis could bankrupt the NHS.
Reducing stomach size prevents people from eating more than small amounts at a time, leading to dramatic weight loss. It can also reverse type 2 diabetes, which carries the risk of amputations, blindness, heart attacks and strokes.
France, with a population similar to that of Britain, carries out 37,000 Bariatric Surgery a year, compared with just 5,000 in the UK. Two countries with far smaller populations – Belgium and Sweden – perform 12,000 and 7,000 respectively, while Italy does 8,000.
It is a safe and cost-effective therapy for a deadly disease.
