美国斯坦福大学医学院的研究人员发现，极度肥胖的患者接受胃肠旁路手术（译者注：一种减肥手术）不仅有助于其本人减肥，亦有利于与接受手术治疗之患者共同居住的其它肥胖的家庭成员的减肥。研究人员发现，接受该类手术后一年时，不仅被手术之肥胖者体重得到了控制或降低，其家庭中其它肥胖的成员之体重亦平均下降了8磅。彭博认为这一种非常有趣的现象，提示家庭成员相互之间之影响确实存在，即“手术的痛苦与代价”让其它家庭成员充分认识到肥胖的危害，他或她们会自觉采取相应的措施以维持一个健康的体重，其结果当然是体重的降低。据报道，仅2009年全美就有22多万人接受了减肥手术，由此可知肥胖在美国的流行概况，及其该类手术对控制美国人的体重或肥胖所产生的影响更为广泛。更多资讯，请参阅原文！

Weight loss after surgery seen in patient's family

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have weight loss surgery aren't alone in slimming down after the procedure -- family members do so, too, a study in the Archives of Surgery shows.

Surgeons at Stanford University School of Medicine found that one year after a person had undergone surgery, obese family members had shed an average of eight pounds, dropping from 234 to 226.

"Obesity is really a family disease," said Dr. John Morton, the surgeon who led the study. "When you invest in the (weight loss surgery) patient, you not only get benefits for the surgery patient, but for the family as well."

Adult family members, limited to those living with the patient, also cut the number of alcoholic drinks they had from about 11 per month to just one and trimmed their waistlines about three inches.

Patients' kids didn't lose weight, but Morton said they staved off expected weight gain. More kids also said they were on a diet after their parent's surgery -- up from a quarter to half.

The findings are based on 35 patients who had gastric bypass surgery as well as 35 adult family members and 15 children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about a third of U.S. adults are obese, increasing their risk of health problems like heart disease and diabetes.

While there are many ways to lose weight, surgery is the gold standard medical treatment for severe obesity.

More than 220,000 Americans had a weight loss operation in 2009, at a price of about $20,000 per patient, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

One study found seven percent of surgery patients experienced complications, but most were minor wound problems. Serious complications -- such as massive bleeding or kidney failure -- occurred in 2.6 percent of patients and were more common in bypass surgery than in the gastric banding procedure.

The new study is small and doesn't prove that surgery helps family members lose weight. But it suggests that it might, just as being the partner of an obese person is linked to a higher risk of being heavy yourself, said Morton.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/rkrrHe Archives of Surgery, October 17, 2011.