What is bariatric surgery? How it helps people lose weight

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Doctors recommend bariatric surgery to people who haven't lost weight through diet, exercise, or medication.

There are different types of bariatric surgery like sleeve gastrectomies, gastric bypass, and gastric bands.

This article was reviewed by Abraham Krikhely, MD, a minimally invasive bariatric and general surgeon, and chair of the Robotic Surgery Committee at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

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By altering the stomach, and sometimes the small intestine, bariatric surgery can help people who struggle with obesity lose significant amounts of weight, and keep it off. Doctors recommend it to patients who have tried unsuccessfully to lose weight through other means, including diet, exercise, and medication.

"A lot of people think it is the easy way out. It is not," says Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, an obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital's weight center. "It is a tool that we know, based on evidence, can help people that have moderate to severe obesity achieve and maintain a healthy weight."See the rest of the story at Business InsiderNOW WATCH: A podiatrist explains heel spurs, the medical condition Trump said earned him a medical deferment from VietnamSee Also:What to eat when intermittent fasting for health and hunger painsWhat happens after a heart attack? How to get physical and mental health back on trackWhat low blood pressure means and when it's an emergency

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