Behavioral changes following surgery for obesity.

The authors interviewed 69 subjects who had had jejuno-ileal bypass surgery for obesity to determine the relationship between weight loss and eating behavior after surgery. All patients had been extremely overweight; at an average of 37 months after surgery, their mean weight was reduced by 39%. There were four significant postoperative changes: voluntary restriction of food intake, "normalization" of eating patterns, resistance to eating during intense emotion, and far less dysphoria during postsurgical weight loss than during previous weight loss efforts. The authors therefore suggest that factors other than impaired intestinal absorption may account for some portion of postsurgical weight loss.