Wondering why gastric bypass procedures have exploded, along with the waistlines of so many Americans? Laparoscopic procedures may be fueling a great deal of this terrible health-harming growth, according to a new report.

Laparoscopic procedures increased from 2 percent of all gastric bypass operations to 18 percent in 2002. And, based on unpublished data, laparoscopic operations exceeded the number of more invasive surgeries in 2004, a huge change considering the amount of gastric bypass procedures doubled to some 140,000 from 2002.

Other frightening numbers from the report that demonstrate how some doctors are jumping on the bandwagon:

• The number of surgeons joining the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) more than doubled to 631.
• The list of hospitals now offering bariatric surgeries increased at almost the same rate as surgeons joining the ASBS.
• Bariatric operations performed in this country between 1998-2002 alone grew 450 percent.

No matter what tricks conventional medicine may use to frame gastric bypass surgeries in a positive light, please don't be fooled. The risks -- blackouts, intestinal disorders, malnutrition and infection -- don't warrant such drastic decisions.

What's more, the mortality rate for gastric bypass patients is about four times greater (1 out of 50) than conventional medicine would have you believe.

Archives of Surgery, Vol. 140, No. 12, December 2005: 1198-1202

USA Today December 20, 2005

Yahoo News December 19, 2005