Study shows gastric bypass alters people's food preference
New research by scientists from Imperial College London shows that gastric bypass surgery alters people’s food preferences.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Psychology, suggest some types of bariatric surgery could lead to long-term weight loss.
A growing number of patients are opting to undergo bariatric surgery in order to lose weight, with over 7,000 such procedures being carried out on the NHS in 2009/10.
The new research saw scientists use data collected from human trials.
The researchers used data from 16 participants in a study in which obese people were randomly assigned either gastric bypass surgery or another type of operation, vertical-banded gastroplasty, in which the stomach volume is reduced but no part of the intestine is bypassed.
The participants who had had gastric bypass had a significantly smaller proportion of fat in their diet six years after surgery, based on questionnaire responses.
Lead researcher Dr Carel le Roux, Imperial Weight Centre at Imperial College London, said: “It appears that after bypass surgery, patients become hungry for good food and avoid junk food not because they have to, but because they just don’t like it any more.”
