I am doing my research on getting the band and what the success rate in weight loss is for African AMericans. I have found limitied medical articles on how response to the band. Going on obesityhelp and clicking under black and african american, I saw that most of the banded people lost but struggled a great deal (seemed that the typical story was 40 pounds over a year period with the same struggles as yo yo dieters). I also joined a yahoo group of african american bandsters but have not found that to be helpful at all.

Can someone point me to a website, medical article, or anything else that I might not be thinking of that might be helpful?

When I did my research for the band.....I didn't even really think about specific research for AA's. Why would our (AA) results differ from others? IMHO What difference does it make...with the band we all have to obey the band rules and make healthy choices, which inclue taking care of ourselves to make sure we have a proper amount of fill in order to loss the 1-2 lbs a week.

Even outside of lanpband weight loss I have never seen any weight loss research specific to ethnicity or race. If you know of other research for other weight loss methods I would be interested in reading them.

be well

I am an African American and I don't exactly understand this study. Could you please enlighten me a bit more. Why would it be more of a struggle for African Americans? food choices are a struggle for alot of people. Please let me know what you find.

Diva

I didn't say it was going to be more of a struggle. Maybe I should have been more clear. I did research back in my undergrad with obesity and ethnicity so I was just trying to see if any had been done with the lap band but since it is a fairly new procedure i don't think there is much out there. that I could find.

I am an African American and I don't exactly understand this study. Could you please enlighten me a bit more. Why would it be more of a struggle for African Americans? food choices are a struggle for alot of people. Please let me know what you find.

Diva

my aunt is AA, and she's doing well.

i doubt that there is much statistically significance difference, if there is any at all, that would make it more difficult for AAs.

diva is right, it does come down to food choices. perhaps they are struggling more because they are still eating some soul and southern food: fried, gravied, smothered and such?

I don't know any aa bandsters but my doc seems to have alot of them (everytime I go in the waiting room and even when I got my surgery everyone else is aa or hispanic). And he says his patients are mostly sucessful so I think race doesn't matter if you follow the rules and use your band.

Yeah...in the original band research...the FDA trials...AA's had a lower success rate than other ethnic groups. I remember it. I'll go look for it.

If this doesn't work for you, let me know.

http://thinforlife.med.nyu.edu/assets/LapBand-in-the-USA.pdf

When you open the pdf file, search on "african" The AA patients had the lowest weight loss in the study, but there were only five African-American patients in the study.

Sue

I'm going to ditto the comments from Diva & Rorysmom. I think if you follow the band rules you can lose. Check me out in 9 months. Take care and good luck with your research.

interesting study. but not representative of anything based on race. five people is just not a large enough sample to measure an issue as multifaceted as weight loss.

a more likely finding in a weight loss study would be that AAs had, on average, a higher weight and BMI before, during, and after weight loss because we are generally larger/bigger boned/heavier/have more muscle mass than other races.

but that's something totally different than having success with the lap band or any weight loss regime for that matter.

I just started a thread about this because I didn't see this before. When I went to the seminar about Lap Banding the doctor stated that aa lost less weight than their white counterparts with any form of weight loss method used (including gastric bypass). I was asking for success stories in the other thread and I am still open to them. My friend got banding 2 years ago and has not seen any results. I am soooooo sick of this fight since I have been battling since childhood and I was really hoping this would offer some real assistance.:help:

I am AA and...I am a success story in progress!!!

6 months banded an d 53lbs gone!!!!

can't wait for the next 6 months!!

GO ME!!!!

:whoo:GO BIG BABY!!

I AM BLACK AND I KNOW WEIGHT IS A TREMENDOUS HEALTH PROBLEM FOR US. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT STICKING TO THE DIET AND EXERCISE IS A BIG SUCCESS FACTOR. I AM NOT BANDED YET BUT MY DATE IS 3/4/2008!

I EXPECT AND HOLD MYSELF ACCOUNTABLE TO BE A SUCCESS STORY WITHOUT EXCUSES. ( IN MY CASE IT IS ALSO GENETIC!)

:clap2::heh::rockon::banana:cheer2::eek:

Black Female here, my progession has been great so far I was banded 12/07/07 I am down a total of 30 lbs no struggles here!!1

I have not read it yet but you could check out Khalia Ali's book (Muhammad Ali's daughter). Seems like she has had great enough success to write a book on her banded weight loss journey.

I am 39 year old AAF. I was banded 1/19/07 and so far have lost 65 pounds not including 15 pounds pre-op. I work with several AA and white females who have been banded. I have not seen any significant differences in the amount of weight loss between the two groups. We talk and share our up's and down's all time. We seem to all have the same issues.