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  1. Jeanne Lenzer
  1. New York

    New guidelines issued by the American College of Physicians recommend surgery as a “treatment option” for severely obese patients.


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    Opera singer Deborah Voight, who is renowned for her interpretation of the music of Wagner and Strauss, lost 45 kg after undergoing bariatric surgery in March

    Credit: GREGORY BULL/AP

    Credit: RICHARD DREW/AP

    The guidelines, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2005;142: 525-31)say that bariatric surgery, in which the stomach is reduced to a small pouch and, in some cases, joined to the small intestine to reduce food absorption, should be …

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