Back when I had surgery, there was this common belief that if you loved sweets, you should have an RNY. You would fail with the Band. Well, I loved sweets, but had no desire to have an RNY. And I did fine.

Seems like there is now research backing that up! (It's old...but I just found it.) Thing is, I still see this being used as a decision making criteria here in the States.

Sweet eating is not a predictor of outcome after Lap-Band placement. Can we finally bury the myth?

Hudson SM, Dixon JB, O'Brien PE.

Monash University Department of Surgery, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3181, Australia.

BACKGROUND: It is common belief that sweet eaters will do poorly after gastric restrictive surgery. There is scant evidence for this and significant evidence that sweet eating behavior is not predictive of weight outcome. Preoperative and current sweet eating behavior was assessed in subjects who have had Lap-Band surgery, to find if this influenced weight outcomes. METHOD: 200 unselected patients who had bands inserted for > 1 year completed a questionaire regarding preoperative sweet eating behavior. The last 100 patients also reported current sweet eating behavior. Sweet eating was scored using a standard dietary questionnaire. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD % excess weight loss at 1 year (% EWL1) for the 100 with the highest preoperative sweet eating scores (SES) was 47.1 +/- 16% compared with a loss of 48.2 +/- 16% by those with the lowest SES (P = 0.64). Analysis showed no significant linear or non-linear correlation between the SES and the % EWL. For the highest quintile of SES, the EWL1 was 47.3 +/- 14% and for the lowest was 46.1 +/- 16% (NS). Sweet eaters were younger (r = -0.21, P = 0.003) and had higher fasting insulin concentrations (r = -0.18, P = 0.03). Preoperative SES had no influence on % EWL1 after controlling for factors known to influence weight loss. % EWL at 2 years (n = 130) and 3 years (n = 88) were not different for sweet eaters and non-sweet eaters. Current sweet eating tendency (n = 100) also had no impact on % EWL. CONCLUSION: Sweet eaters do not have less favorable weight outcomes following Lap-Band surgery. Our study confirms the findings of two other major studies. Sweet eating behavior should not be used as a preoperative selection criterion for bariatric surgery.

PMID: 12568183 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

I'm glad you posted it as well. I am/was (trying my darndest to change) a sweets eater, that's what got me to what I am today. I still have an occassional craving for something sweet, but not often. When I have the craving, I'll have one cookie, not a half dozen or more and then the craving is gone. I am not one to say I'm never going to eat sweets again, that is a recipe for disaster for me. Once you say to yourself that you can't have something, you want it even more. Moderation is the key and I hope down the road that I remember this, but for now, I'm doing it.

Makes sense to me, its really down to how much you eat, not what in the end anyway. Its just calories in versus calories out and whether you eat 1200 calories of chocolate a day or spend your 1200 wisely on the 5 food groups, you'll lose weight just the same. You might get scurvey, but that's a whole nother argument.

I've found anyway that my sweet tooth has markedly diminished since banding. It has an effect on many people's appetites and preferences that cant be measured or predicted. My doc says its thought to be the fact that the pressure of the band on the stomach, the simple pressure of it being there, stimulates the vagus nerve in some way in some people.

I think my sweet tooth got worse with banding *shrug*

I have been commenting to my friends and family how my sweet tooth has all but disappeared and I was a hardcore chocoholic, ice cream monger and any pastries or anything sweet would drive me over the edge if I coudn't eat it ! I had my band placed on 4/18 and honestly, for sweets. have had 1 bite of a cream cheese frosted carrot cake and 1 small soft serve cone ! I do not crave them or really even think about them. I do have 2 Viactive chocolate mint calcium squares each day and that is a great "treat" ! I hopethis non-craving will continue and I feel bad for anybody who continues to crave sweets. I was told that the band was not for sweet-eaters as well, but I took a chance and man, I am GLAD I did !