How Surgery Changes Eating Behaviour

Gastrointestinal surgery for obesity, bariatric surgery, alters the digestive process.

The operations can be divided into three types:

• restrictive,
• malabsorptive,
• combined restrictive/malabsorptive.

Restrictive operations

These limit food intake by creating a narrow passage from the upper part of the stomach into the larger lower part, reducing the amount of food the stomach can hold and slowing the passage of food through the stomach.

Malabsorptive procedures

These procedures do not limit food intake, but instead exclude most of the small intestine from the digestive tract so that fewer calories and nutrients are absorbed by the body. Malabsorptive operations, also called intestinal bypasses, are no longer recommended because they result in severe nutritional deficiencies.

Combined operations use stomach restriction and a partial bypass of the small intestine.

Links to our Bariatric Surgery Guide

• Homepage for Bariatric Surgery Guide
• Rationale for Undertaking Bariatric Surgery
• Normal Digestive Process
• Treatment Goals for Bariatric Surgery
• Non Operative Weight Loss Treatments
• Patient Selection for Bariatric Surgery
• Bariatric Surgical Options
• Locations for Bariatric Surgery

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