Young, obese girls make beeline for bariatric operations in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: With super super obese body mass index of 50 to 60, and weighing up to 160 kg, girls in their early twenties and thirties are visiting city clinics for bariatric surgery.

Every month, 90 bariatric surgeries are carried out in the major corporate hospitals and the largest number of patients in the BMI category is young women.

Dr Venu Gopal Parikh, senior bariatric surgeon, attributed this to lack of physical activity burning up the calories. “First their academics required them to sit and now their work profiles. What is consumed is not used.”

A senior doctor on condition of anonymity said, “A major problem in these young girls is seen during their time in college when they are involved in back-to-back study schedules and there is complete lack of physical activity.”

In these patients, exercise and diet control to control weight have not helped.
“Those who have BMI of more than 35 are already at a risk of diseases like early onset of diabetes, hypertension, polycystic ovary syndrome and other metabolic disorders due to the excess fat in the body,” said senior bariatric surgeon Dr B. Narsaiah.

“Their problem is also metabolism which is affected because of obesity.”
Initially, teens were known to walk and took at least 5,000 steps a day. But now, with personal vehicles becoming popular, the number of steps they walk has fallen.

Experts say that 10,000 steps per day are recommended as it is equivalent to 60 minutes of workout. A senior gynaecologist said, “The PCOD problems in teenagers is the beginning of the problem as hormonal changes lead to weight gain. If it is not controlled, it leads to obesity by the time they are in their early 20s and 30s.”