Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic are reporting encouraging early weight loss results with a new type of weight loss surgery called gastric plication, an innovative and minimally invasive technique that involves folding a patient’s stomach inside itself and then stitching it up.
Gastric plication reduces stomach volume by more than two-thirds without removing any of the stomach or any cutting or stapling of stomach tissue. Because the stomach is smaller, patients feel full with a much smaller amount of food and therefore eat less.
The preliminary results of the 15-person pilot study conducted at Cleveland Clinic suggest that gastric plication holds great promise as a viable treatment option for obesity.
On December 3, 2010, a panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers voted in favor of lowering the body mass index criteria for 
The TOGA System, an endoscopic weight loss procedure for obesity, has been named one of the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2011 by a panel of physicians and scientists at the Cleveland Clinic’s 2010 Medical Innovations Summit. This designation is awarded to up-and-coming technologies that will have “significant clinical impact and offer significant patients benefit in comparison to current practices.”
The preference for sweet-tasting substances decreased following 
Restrictive bariatric procedures such as gastric banding or sleeve gastrectomy are less likely to place patients at risk for developing kidney stones than a malabsorptive procedure such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery, according to a study published in the October Journal of Urology.
Researchers at the University of Alberta have found that dopamine, a chemical involved in the reward and pleasure system of the brain, is also connected to cellular memory. 
New research on mice suggests that low levels of light at night might be an environmental risk factor for obesity. In the study, mice living with light at night gained about 50 percent more body mass than mice in the standard light-dark cycle, even though the amount of food and level of physical activity was the same between the two groups.
A new study highlights the dramatic increase in the use of Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAGB) among obese teens as a way to lose weight. Even though the procedure is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in individuals younger than 18 years of age, the rate of LAGB among teens increased nearly seven-fold from 2005 to 2007.
One of the newest and most promising weight loss procedures is gastric plication surgery. The operation compares favorably to existing more-invasive bariatric procedures, offering patients minimal risk and quick recovery while producing similar weight loss results.
