Gastric Bypass Works Better Than Lap-Band: Study

Lap-Band surgery got a big thumbs up from the FDA a week ago, but a new study has found that gastric bypass, an older weight-loss surgery, may be the best option for overweight patients. Researchers at UC San Francisco found that the gastric bypass procedure known as Roux-en-Y bypass, which shrinks stomach capacity, was just as safe as the Lap-Band and enabled patients to lose 64% of their excess weight in the year after surgery, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Lap-Band recipients lost 36% of that weight over the same period. In addition, while gastric bypass recipients had more complications one month after surgery, they had fewer over the course of the full year. The FDA made millions more people eligible to have Lap-Band surgery last week by approving it for those with a body mass index as low as 30. (More lap band surgery stories.)