The problem of obesity has been with us since the dawn of time and for many sufferers obesity is caused by genetic or medical problems. In today’s world, however, the alarming growth in the rate of obesity is very much a man-made problem, aided in part perhaps by the availability, and popularity, of the gastric bypass.

Advances in surgery, not least the arrival of laparoscopic procedures, have made the gastric bypass a much simpler and more acceptable solution to the problem of obesity. As if this were not enough, the profile of the gastric bypass has been raised substantially in recent years helped in no small way by the number of household names selecting this method of weight loss.

The list of famous people going down this route is long and includes the footballer Diego Maradona, the musician and harmonica virtuoso John Popper, the music promoter and TV personality Sharon Osbourne and the coach of the Notre Dame football team Charlie Weiss to name just a few.

But why is obesity on the increase and is it really a problem of our own making?

In spite of the fact that there was a small rise in the rate of obesity after world War II, the past twenty five years have seen a major growth in obesity, especially in north America. The precise reason for this is unknown and there is fairly wide disagreement over the cause, but here are just a few reasons over which there is general agreement.

1. As a society we have become far less active and prefer to watch our favorite sport instead of get out and play the game ourselves and this is especially true amongst people who are overweight. Of more interest perhaps, if you decrease the calorie intake for people who are overweight they do not become more active and if you raise the calorie intake for lean people they do not become less active. Weight gain, or loss, does not affect a person’s level of activity, but that person’s level of activity does affect his or her weight.

2. Marketing is now very sophisticated, if not subliminal, and this is particularly true in the area of convenience and fast foods. As if this were not enough, many of the restrictions were removed on advertising aimed at children during the Reagan administration and many of these restrictions dealt with such things as sweets and convenience foods.

3. Over the past twenty five years there have been major changes in working practices with significantly fewer people now employed in manual work and with more and more of us sitting back and letting robots do the work that we used to do or are sitting all day behind a desk or at a computer.

4. Today we are a nation of two income households and this means that people are now cooking far less at home. The number of people enjoying restaurant meals or opting for fast food take out or home delivery meals has risen significantly in recent years.

5. Despite the current talk about oil prices, the motor car is no longer a luxury and the two car family has become the norm. We do not think twice now about getting into the car for even the shortest of journeys and many of us wouldn’t even dream of walking to the shop at the end of the street.

6. possibly strangest of all is the effect that the craze for diet and exercise has had on the rise in obesity. As a society we have become obsessed with dieting and many people diet as often as they change their clothes. Regrettably it’s a fact that virtually all diets fail and, at the end of a diet, it is not uncommon for your weight to rise to a level even higher than it was before you started. This pattern of rising and falling weight over time frequently results in a gradual increase in weight towards obesity.

Each of the factors noted here not only add to the growth in obesity but is also manifestly made-made.

Of course gastric bypass provides one possible solution. But, even though the procedure is a lot easier than it used to be and is growing in popularity, it is still far from a pleasant experience and is certainly not risk free.

For those people who are obese today gastric bypass constitutes an excellent solution to their problem. For our children and grandchildren however perhaps the answer lies in preventing obesity rather than sitting back and waiting for the problem to present itself before turning to gastric bypass surgery.

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