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Healthier Weight Centres provide the gold standard for the diagnosis, treatment and management of overweight and obese individuals in the UK. The company was founded in 2003 by Dr David Ashton, cardiovascular epidemiologist, who was particularly interested in the relationship between cardiovascular disease and obesity and the role physical activity plays in preventing weight gain.
Initially Healthier Weight Centres offered a medically supervised behavioural programme in Birmingham UK using a specially developed range of weight loss products branded as Weight to Go! Nutritional products. This weight loss programme was designed for individuals with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25-30, although patient success stories show that some individuals have lost over ten stones (some 60 kgs) in weight.
Weight loss clinics soon followed in London and Manchester. As well as offering weight loss programmes, Healthier Weight Centres participated in a number of clinical trials for weight loss drugs. Dr Ashton still prescribes limited pharmacotherapy, namely Sibutramine and Accomplia for selected patients, often to help with the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance.
As the prevalence of obesity has risen, Healthier Weight Centres have undertaken obesity (bariatric) surgery. We now offer gastric balloon, laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, the new telemetric adjustable gastric band called Easyband, various types of gastric bypass including Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) and duodenal switch operations.
It has been our policy only to use expert obesity surgeons with Professor Franco Favretti our lead bariatric surgeon. Franco Favretti has a world class reputation in the field of obesity surgery having published many academic papers in peer review obesity and other journals. Professor Favretti defined the laparoscopic gastric banding technique and also pioneered the Bandinaro, an operation combining gastric banding with BPD.
Our obesity surgical offering is constantly reviewed and refined. Patients are given a ten day pre-operative diet using Weight to Go! nutritional products – weight loss meals, shakes and energy bars. Our own Healthier Weight obesity surgery booklet outlines all the stages from consultation to hospital admission, details on the bariatric procedure itself and post-operative discharge. On leaving hospital patients receive a second Healthier Weight booklet outlining post operative nutrition (again using the Weight to Go! Products in the early weeks), our 24-hour emergency helpline number and follow up bariatric protocolwith vitamin and mineral suplementation.
Our operative mortality is zero to date despite having operated on many high risk obese patients with BMI’s (Body Mass Indices) of 60 and above and also some super morbidly obese patients with BMIs between 80 and 90 kg/m2.
Healthier Weight Centres’ guiding philosophy is that obesity surgery is emphatically not a cosmetic procedure. Obesity surgery should be undertaken not only to help people lose weight but also to improve the associated co-morbidities of obesity such as diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), arthritis, joint pain, cardiovascular disease, stroke, various forms of cancer including prostate cancer, bowel cancer and ovarian cancer, reflux and the overall quality of life.
We try as hard as we can to debunk junk science; we don’t peddle dreams and we don’t promise miracles. Sometimes a good outcome for an individual is to stop them putting weight on. Not everyone can achieve an optimal weight but everyone can be a healthier weight!