significantly limiting their food intake

An additional 12 million obese Americans power balance could soon qualify for surgery to implant Allergan Inc.’s small, flexible stomach band to help them lose weight by significantly limiting their food intake.

Under existing federal guidelines, the Lap-Band has been limited to patients who are morbidly obese, and is implanted in some 100,000 people each year. The surgery typically results in weight loss of 50 pounds or more.

A panel of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisers recommended on Friday that use of the device be expanded to include patients who are less obese, voting 8-2 that the benefits of broader use outweigh the risks. The FDA will make a final determination on whether to expand use of the stomach bands in the coming months.

If approved, the Lap-Band could be available to patients not quite obese enough for the surgery under the current guidelines, but who still want the procedure to prevent future health problems and to feel better online shop. However, experts caution that the Lap-Band cannot stop deeply embedded behavior that drives people to overeat, and say the procedure’s high cost will remain a barrier for many potential patients.

More than one in three American power balance adults are obese, with roughly 15 million of them meeting the criteria for gastric banding surgery under current standards. This includes people with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, or a BMI of 35 or higher if the person suffers from a weight-related medical problem such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

If the new standards are adopted, the Lap-Band requirements would be lowered to include those with a BMI of 35 or higher, or 30 or higher for those with obesity-related health problems.

Enacting the new guidelines would increase the number of eligible patients to 27 million, the Associated Press (AP) reported from http://www.onlinenewshop.com/.