Popular weight-loss surgery may lead to weaker bone health in teenagers, suggests study
Popular weight-loss surgery may lead to weaker bone health in teenagers, suggests study

While many adolescents consider going for weight loss surgeries, researchers have found one of the surgery's common side effects noticed on them.

They found that common weight loss surgery for adolescents with obesity called sleeve gastrectomy has harmful effects on bones.

Popular weight-loss surgery may lead to weaker bone health in teenagers, suggests study for adolescents with obesity called sleeve gastrectomy has harmful effects on bones.

"Childhood obesity is a major public health issue that has increased over the last 10 years," said lead investigator Miriam A.

Bredella, M.D., professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and vice-chair of the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"Sleeve gastrectomy is the most common bariatric surgery procedure performed in children and adults." In a sleeve gastrectomy, approximately 75% of the stomach is removed to restrict food intake and induce weight loss.

It results in a typically round stomach taking on the shape of a tube or sleeve.

The number of sleeve gastrectomy procedures performed on adolescents increased 100-fold from 2005 to 2014.