Consuming Alcohol And Gastric Bypass Surgery Could Turn Out To Be A Dangerous Mix

It is probably something which you have not really thought about, but do obesity surgery and alcohol go together.

After years of discussion we are finally coming around to the inescapable conclusion that surgery is the only really successful and lasting answer to the problem of morbid obesity. And not before time!

At the moment obesity is probably the leading health problem in the industrialized world and in the US alone some 60 percent of people are overweight, with close to 24 percent being obese and 3 percent extremely obese. Now 3 percent may not seem like a big figure but when you realize that it represents more than 9 million severely obese people this is a fairly major problem.

In spite of the fact that more and more attention is being focused on the problem of obesity and its cure, it is surprising how much remains to be learnt about the condition, including the affects of alcohol on people who have undergone obesity surgery.

For a considerable time now there has been some anecdotal evidence that people who have undergone gastric bypass surgery are affected more by alcohol but it was not until late last year that any attempt was made to look at the extent or otherwise of the problem.

In a fairly small-scale study the affects of alcohol on 19 people who had undergone gastric bypass surgery was compared to the affects on 17 control subjects. The people taking part in the study each drank a small 5 ounce glass of red wine and their breath alcohol was then measured until it returned to zero.

The study found that alcohol levels reached a higher level in the gastric bypass patients and also took much longer to return to zero. But, most interestingly, the study also demonstrated that just }a single|one} small glass of wine was enough to put the breath alcohol level in some gastric bypass surgery patients over the legal alcohol level for driving in several US states.

The explanation for the raised affects of alcohol on gastric bypass surgery patients is not difficult to understand as surgery reduces the size of the stomach and bypasses a section of the intestine, both areas of the body which play a key role in breaking down alcohol before it finds its way into the bloodstream.

So just what does this mean for gastric bypass surgery patients?

Well, apart from the obvious need to be careful and certainly to refrain from driving after drinking even small quantities of alcohol, the implications for gastric bypass surgery patients do in fact go a bit wider.

A particular problem is that alcohol is a relaxant and this leads to difficulties when it comes to post-surgical weight loss and to the maintenance of weight loss. As alcohol relaxes the stomach, including the lower esophageal sphincter, together with the intestine, patients who enjoy alcohol are able to eat more and alcohol effectively counters the affects of surgery. As if this were not bad enough many people become more socially active after surgery and this frequently means an increased intake of alcohol.

There still needs to be considerably more research carried out but, in the end, the simple fact is that people who have undergone obesity surgery need to be aware of the risks of alcohol and act accordingly.

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