Dear PEOPLE:
I just read your most recent issue which featured Carnie Wilson's 100- pound weight loss due to her weight loss surgery and was a bit disturbed by the tone of the article. While I am happy that Miss Wilson is happy, I think the dangers of weight loss surgery should have been reported with neutrality instead of simply quoting the "300,000 people die from obesity each year" statistic. As many as 165,000 of those people die from the long-term effects of yo-yo dieting and the strain it puts on the body, according to Dr. Glenn Gaesser. And many fat people with medical conditions do not receive adequate medical care because they are told to lose "x" amount of pounds before they can receive treatment for an ailment which may have nothing to do with their weight.
As Director of the International Size Acceptance Association (ISAA), I feel I have a responsibility to provide you and your readers with some not-so- commonly known facts regarding weight loss surgery: 1 in 100 recipients of weight loss surgery die on the operating table, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) refers to weight loss surgery in their scientific papers as "induced bulimia," Dr. Matthias Fobi (of "The Fobi Pouch" weight loss surgery technique) refers to his procedure in one of his scientific papers as "induced anorexia" and weight regains of up to 50% within five years are considered "success."
In conclusion, weight loss surgery is a medically-induced eating disorder, where the focus of one's life becomes how much weight did they lose, not how good of a person they are. Size acceptance is the only sane alternative, because in most instances, people can be fit at any size. If your readers are interested, they can learn about ISAA and size acceptance at our website - http://www.size-acceptance.org
I sincerely hope you will print this letter in your next issue.
Thank you for your time.
Best Wishes,
Allen Steadham
Director ISAA
