OPTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF OBESITY

The need to treat obesity successfully can be measured by the medical penalty paid by the obese individual and the financial price paid by s ociety in general. The management of obesity has 2 objectives: first, to produce significant weight reduction (10% of pretreatment bodyweigh t) and, second, to maintain this weight reduction. For the purpose of this paper, we have defined successful treatment as that maintaining s ignificant weight loss for at least 5 years. A review of the literatur e confirms that there is no single outstanding treatment for obesity, and that clinicians must consider an individual's needs before selecti ng a particular method of weight reduction. The main determinants of s uitability of any specific treatment are degree of obesity, concomitan t medical disorders, urgency of treatment, and the individual's willin gness to undergo the programme prescribed.