Call to boost obesity surgery

Peter Shepherd
Peter Shepherd
A senior New Zealand scientist is calling for the Government to increase funding for weight loss surgery to help in the battle against obesity.

''Current methods are not working'', Prof Peter Shepherd, of the University of Auckland, said in a public lecture delivered yesterday as part of Queenstown Research Week.

An overseas study had found patients who underwent bariatric - or weight loss - surgery not only had long term success with weight management but were also less susceptible to other issues related to obesity, for example, diabetes. Women in particular had lower rates of cancer, he said.

While some held the view that people who were overweight ''should [lose weight] themselves'', Prof Shepherd said it was not that simple.

''When people say 'fat people should just lose weight' it's really difficult.

''We've got to understand obese people ... A lot of them are really trying ... under a great degree of suffering and pain.

''I think we need to do something different - use science to tackle the problem.''

Many viewed obesity as a ''moral problem'', when there was actually a biological cause.

This week, Prof Shepherd, deputy director of the Maurice Wilkins Centre, announced a $1million study to identify genes that predispose New Zealanders to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

It aims to develop a test to determine a person's susceptibility to the two problems and understand the most effective means of counteracting that - through diet and exercise, medication or surgery.

Prof Shepherd told the ODT yesterday he hoped, following that study, to have a ''serious debate'' about the issue.

''I hope ... people are a lot more willing to understand for some people they're much more at risk of developing obesity and will find it much harder to lose that weight and we need to be open to new ways of thinking about how to deal with it.

''Otherwise, we'll just continue facing the problem.

He believed the reason bariatric surgery did not appear to be a priority for government funding was at least partly because of ''fatism''.

At present, the procedures were ''rationed'' across New Zealand, treated as ''the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff''.

About 28% of New Zealanders - around 1.12million - were obese, yet there were less than 600 bariatric surgery spaces available each year.

''People want to think they can achieve a population level weight loss by ... diet and exercise and it just doesn't work,'' Prof Shepherd said.

In a statement, Ministry of Health electives and national services manager Clare Perry said in 2014 the Government announced an extra $10million to support the continued focus on bariatric surgery, supporting provision of at least 480 bariatric operations nationally each year over the four years from 2014 15.

That was up from 131 procedures in 2007 08.

The total cost per surgery was about $20,000 - that included relevant specialist assessments, preparation supplements, the procedure and follow ups, Ms Perry said.

The Ministry of Health does not hold data on the cost of obesity to the health system.

Prof Shepherd said allocating more funding would enable more people to have the option of surgery - and, ultimately, it would save money and give people a better quality of life.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said yesterday New Zealand was ''not unique'' in its battle with obesity and there was ''no single solution''.

Last year's Budget allocated $40million over four years for Healthy Families NZ - a ''more sophisticated way'' of addressing obesity and underlying causes of poor health.

Annually, $60million was invested on programmes to promote healthy lifestyles, including Kiwisport and fruit in schools.

The Government was also adopting a new voluntary ''Health Star Rating'', a front of package labelling system to help New Zealanders ''make healthy food choices''.

Dr Coleman said officials from Health and Sport were looking at additional measures and no decisions had been made on what shape or form any interventions would take.

The Government was ''not actively considering a sugar tax'', he said.

-tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz

 

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