If you have had an ongoing struggle with attempting to drop excess pounds, then you are not alone. Millions of people worldwide, but especially in North America, suffer from health problems as a result of being overweight or obese. Because of this widespread and rapidly increasing problem, medical workers are constantly developing new ways of helping their patients to lose weight and maintain healthy and active lifestyles.

One of weight loss’ newest innovations, which is not yet approved worldwide, but which is proving to be an effective strategy for jump starting a weight loss or diet regimen, is the gastric balloon. A gastric balloon is essentially a silicone balloon that is filled with air and inserted into the stomach, in order to put pressure on the stomach membrane and fool it into a sensation of being full. The ultimate goal of the gastric balloon is to help individuals reduce the amount of food that they consume in any given sitting, thereby reducing the amount of calories that their body can absorb. This process can be the impetus for learning and practicing healthier eating patterns so that, once the balloon is removed and the appetite returns to normal, habits and patterns will have already been established, and as such are more likely to be adhered to.

The gastric balloon is but one of many proven procedures that can be done to help kick start a weight loss program. It stands out from other procedures for a number of reasons however, including its fast rate of recovery time, its minimal invasiveness when compared to other procedures, and the fact that the procedure is not irreversible once completed.

If you visit many weight loss surgeons, they will likely discuss a number of options for how to proceed. One surgical procedure that receives a great deal of attention in the media is gastric bypass surgery, whereby the stomach is surgically made smaller (to encourage the consumption of smaller portions of food and discourage overeating,) and the food that is consumed bypasses a portion of the smaller intestine, where most of the calories would be absorbed by the body.

The principle difference between the insertion of a gastric balloon and the administration of gastric bypass surgery is that the former is a non-surgical procedure. The balloon, in its deflated state, is inserted into the stomach by way of the mouth. Once it has reached the stomach, it is inflated to a certain degree (generally between 400 and 800 milliliters.) The balloon is replaced once every three months until the process is complete.

Although in clinical studies of gastric balloons, a minimal number of subjects showed stomach ulcers and superficial erosions, the risks of gastric bypass surgery are far greater in comparison. Consider the multiple gastric bypass complications that could occur, simply based on the fact that the surgical process requires incisions, which take time to heal, and which will always run the risk of infection. In addition, there is the risk of leakage from the bypassing of the lower intestine, the possibility of developing anemia from lack of essential nutrients, and a large percentage of patients will develop gall or kidney stones as a side effect of the procedure.

Gastric bypass surgery is also a permanent procedure, which can only be undone or altered by way of one or more additional surgeries. Because of the stress inflicted upon the body, recovery time is typically between three and five weeks, and eating and drinking habits will have to be immediately and drastically altered following the completion of the procedure.

Although a reasonable option for dangerously obese individuals, gastric bypass surgery cannot be done without considerable health risks. For individuals that struggle with their weight and their eating habits, and who are looking for a means of developing a healthier lifestyle and losing unhealthy pounds, the gastric balloon is an excellent, and non-invasive procedure that, with the exception of spasms and nausea from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the initial procedure, will not interfere with their everyday lives.