TY - JOUR T1 - THe best of the best—2002 AU - Peskin GW Y1 - 2003/11/01 N1 - 10.1001/archsurg.138.11.1264 JO - Archives of Surgery SP - 1264 EP - 1266 VL - 138 IS - 11 N2 - There has been a great deal written about morbid obesity, a plague on this country. Most of these articles have dealt with the technical aspect of the surgical treatment of morbid obesity and the indications for operation. Obviously the wave of the future is in the pharmacological management of these patients. The following report introduces us to this topic. Cummings DE, Weigle DS, Frayo S, et al. Plasma Ghrelin Levels After Diet-Induced Weight Loss or Gastric Bypass SurgeryN Engl J Med. 2002;346:1623-1630. Ghrelin is a hormone that increases food intake in humans. Because ghrelin is produced primarily by the stomach, weight loss after gastric bypass surgery is associated with a marked suppression of ghrelin levels and an absence of its normal diurnal rhythm. A diet-induced weight loss of 17% of initial body weight in a nonoperative patient group caused sharp rises in ghrelin profiles. Thus, the hypothesis that this hormone has a role in the long-term regulation of body weight has been established, and the search begins for antagonists that eventually may be the treatment of obesity. SN - 0004-0010 M3 - doi: 10.1001/archsurg.138.11.1264 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.138.11.1264 ER -