Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue and unexplained weight loss. Symptoms may also include increased hunger, having a sensation of pins and needles, and sores (wounds) that do not heal. Often symptoms come on slowly. Long-term complications from high blood sugar include heart disease, stroke, diabetic retinopathy which can result in blindness, kidney failure, and poor blood flow in the limbs which may lead to amputations. The sudden onset of hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state may occur; however, ketoacidosis is uncommon.
Gastric bypass surgery refers to a technique in which the stomach is divided into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch and then the small intestine is rearranged to connect to both. Surgeons have developed several different ways to reconnect the intestine, thus leading to several different gastric bypass procedures (GBP). Any GBP leads to a marked reduction in the functional volume of the stomach, accompanied by an altered physiological and physical response to food.
Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity.
A metabolic disorder is a disorder that negatively alters the body's processing and distribution of macronutrients, such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Metabolic disorders can happen when abnormal chemical reactions in the body alter the normal metabolic process. It can also be defined as inherited single gene anomaly, most of which are autosomal recessive.
Gut microbiota, gut microbiome, or gut flora are the microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, that live in the digestive tracts of animals. The gastrointestinal metagenome is the aggregate of all the genomes of the gut microbiota. The gut is the main location of the human microbiome. The gut microbiota has broad impacts, including effects on colonization, resistance to pathogens, maintaining the intestinal epithelium, metabolizing dietary and pharmaceutical compounds, controlling immune function, and even behavior through the gut–brain axis.
Sleeve gastrectomy or vertical sleeve gastrectomy, is a surgical weight-loss procedure, typically performed laparoscopically, in which approximately 75 - 85% of the stomach is removed, along the greater curvature, which leaves a cylindrical, or "sleeve"-shaped stomach the size of a banana. Weight loss is affected not only through the reduction of the organ's size, but by the removal of the portion of it that produces ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates appetite. Patients can lose 50-70 percent of excess weight over the course of the two years that follow the surgery. The procedure is irreversible, though in some uncommon cases, patients can regain the lost weight, via resumption of poor dietary habits, or dilation of the stomach over time, which can require gastric sleeve revision surgery to either repair the sleeve or convert it to another type of weight loss method that may produce better results, such as a gastric bypass or duodenal switch.
Dysbiosis is characterized by a disruption to the microbiome resulting in an imbalance in the microbiota, changes in their functional composition and metabolic activities, or a shift in their local distribution. For example, a part of the human microbiota such as the skin flora, gut flora, or vaginal flora, can become deranged, with normally dominating species underrepresented and normally outcompeted or contained species increasing to fill the void. Similar to the human gut microbiome, diverse microbes colonize the plant rhizosphere, and dysbiosis in the rhizosphere, can negatively impact plant health. Dysbiosis is most commonly reported as a condition in the gastrointestinal tract or plant rhizosphere.
The term "infectobesity" refers to the hypothesis that obesity in humans can be caused by pathogenic organisms, and the emerging field of medical research that studies the relationship between pathogens and weight gain. The term was coined in 2001 by Dr. Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
Bariatric surgery is a medical term for surgical procedures used to manage obesity and obesity-related conditions. Long term weight loss with bariatric surgery may be achieved through alteration of gut hormones, physical reduction of stomach size, reduction of nutrient absorption, or a combination of these. Standard of care procedures include Roux en-Y bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, from which weight loss is largely achieved by altering gut hormone levels responsible for hunger and satiety, leading to a new hormonal weight set point.
Middlemore Hospital is a major public hospital in the suburb of Ōtāhuhu, Auckland, New Zealand. The hospital has approximately 800 beds. There are 24 operating theatres across two sites.
The American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) is a non-profit medical organization dedicated to metabolic and bariatric surgery, and obesity-related diseases and conditions. It was established in 1983.
Management of obesity can include lifestyle changes, medications, or surgery. Although many studies have sought effective interventions, there is currently no evidence-based, well-defined, and efficient intervention to prevent obesity.
The first 1,000 days describes the period from conception to 24 months of age in child development. This is considered a "critical period" in which sufficient nutrition and environmental factors have life-long effects on a child's overall health. While adequate nutrition can be exceptionally beneficial during this critical period, inadequate nutrition may also be detrimental to the child. This is because children establish many of their lifetime epigenetic characteristics in their first 1,000 days. Medical and public health interventions early on in child development during the first 1,000 days may have higher rates of success compared to those achieved outside of this period.
Rachel Louise Batterham is a British physician who is a professor of Obesity, Diabetes and Endocrinology at University College London. She established the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Bariatric Centre for Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery. She has extensively studied obesity, and has contributed to clinical management and the understanding of obesity-related diseases.
Healthier Lives – He Oranga Hauora is one of New Zealand's eleven collaborative research programmes known as National Science Challenges. Running from 2015 to 2024, the focus of Healthier Lives National Science Challenge research is cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes in the New Zealand population, encompassing prevention, treatment, and reducing health inequity, and including precision medicine techniques, and culturally-centred health programmes for Māori and Pasifika.
Lisa Anne Te Morenga is a New Zealand Maori academic, and she is a full professor at the Research Centre for Hauora and Health at Massey University. Her research focuses on nutrition and Māori health, especially in relation to dietary interventions to prevent metabolic disease.
Trecia Ann Wouldes is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, specialising in the developmental effects of drug exposure in pregnancy.
Karen Elizabeth Waldie is a Canadian–New Zealand academic psychologist, and is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in understanding the causes of neurodiversity such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Erica Hinckson is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT). She is interested in how the built environment affects physical activity, and how to use approaches such as citizen science and participatory research to achieve large-scale change.
Toni Ashton is a New Zealand health economist, and was a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in the funding and structure of health systems.
