Family members experience weight loss, increased activity levels, improved eating habits
TUESDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Adult family members and children of patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery experience weight loss and improved healthy behaviors one year following surgery, according to a study published in the October issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Gavitt A. Woodard, M.D., from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, and colleagues investigated changes in weight and healthy behaviors in patients who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and their family members. Weight and expected body mass index (BMI) were measured in 35 patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and associated dietary and lifestyle counseling, 35 adult family members, and 15 children <18 years, before and one year after index bypass surgery. Waist circumference, quality of life, healthy and eating behaviors, and activity levels were the secondary outcome measures.
The investigators found that before surgery, 60 percent of adult family members and 73 percent of children of parents undergoing surgery were obese. Obese adult family members showed significant weight loss 12 months after surgery. Obese children had a trend toward lower BMI than that expected for their growth curve (P = 0.7). Both adults and children significantly increased their daily activity levels. Improved eating habits were seen in adult family members with less uncontrollable eating, emotional eating, and alcohol consumption.
"Gastric bypass surgery may render an additional benefit of weight loss and improved healthy behavior for bariatric patients' family members," the authors write.
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