Medical treatment is to find and treat any and rare medical causes of obesity, such as a malfunction of the endocrine glands (thyroid, adrenal glands).
Traditional treatments of obesity, now banned, associated with diuretics, amphetamines (diet pills) and thyroid hormones, which are both ineffective and dangerous.
Today, several medicines are available to help fight obesity. A large majority requires a prescription, because their effects on metabolism are not trivial. Some drugs work well on the intestinal enzymes, they inhibit. They reduce 30% of fat absorption from the gastrointestinal tract and is complementary diets. Dietary restriction is necessary, particularly fat, on pain of severe diarrhea.
Other drugs act on the satiety centers of the brain by a mechanism similar to that of amphetamines. Only specialists can prescribe these products.
Surgery is used only in cases of morbid obesity when body mass index (BMI) exceeds 35 or 40, and weight 130 or 150 kg. Bariatric surgery is most commonly performed is to remove part of the stomach, limiting food intake. The results are spectacular in the coming weeks, but this surgery must be accompanied by a strict diet. Psychological support is recommended. Finally in the months following the intervention of small cosmetic surgery may be required to remove folds of skin and abdominal fat deposits disappear easily.
Other interventions include installation of a temporary balloon in the stomach, which by its mere presence, cut hunger and forced to make smaller meals.
