FOOD POLITICS
The causal chain between pollical and economic choices and the pandemic of obesity and overweight is best documented in the writings and postings of Marion Nestle. Topics – Food Politics by Marion Nestle
PREVALENCE
The prevalence of adult obesity varies by age, region, race, and socio-economic status with a national average of 42%. The prevalence of overweight is even greater. Obesity and Overweight place a large fraction of the population at higher risk for diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea and certain cancers. Adult Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC
BARIATRIC SURGERY
Substantial evidence indicates that surgery results in greater improvements in weight loss and type 2 diabetes outcomes, compared with nonsurgical interventions, regardless of the type of procedures used.
A substantial body of evidence has now been accumulated, including data from numerous randomized controlled (nonblinded) clinical trials, demonstrating that metabolic surgery achieves superior glycemic control and reduction of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity compared with various lifestyle/medical interventions.
In this study, we observed that in patients with obesity and T2DM-Ins, bariatric surgery was associated with high rates of postoperative cessation of insulin therapy, which is, in turn, a major driver of overall reductions in direct healthcare cost. Our findings suggest that a strategy utilising bariatric surgery for patients with obesity and T2DM-Ins is cost saving to the national healthcare provider (National Health Service (NHS)) over a 5-year time horizon.
Draft Population Health Metrics for Obesity and Overweight:
At a health plan level, benchmarked to statewide average
1. Proportion of adult members obese or overweight
2. Proportion of adult members obese or overweight who receive nutritional counselling
3. Proportion of adult members obese or overweight with diabetes
4. Proportion of adult members who are obese who undergo bariatric surgery