A new study led by Monash University's Centre for Obesity Research and Education Australian has revealed that obese teenagers on diet lose less weight than ones who go for gastric band surgery. This report comes with warning by experts that the procedure is risky. This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today.

Adolescent health expert Associate Professor Jeff Walkley of RMIT University in Melbourne stat4es, "It's clear that the surgery leads to dramatic weight loss, but it's less clear whether from a long-term perspective - not just two years, but five or 10 years - whether there will be any adverse outcomes".

In this study, 25 obese teenagers were put on a supervised weight loss regime and the other 25 were given gastric banding surgery to curb their appetite. This resulted in an average loss of 3 kilograms for those on diet and an average of 35 kilograms for those who underwent surgery. The study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, tracked 50 severely obese teens aged 14 to 18 over two years between May 2005 and September 2008.

Study's author Professor Paul O'Brien said, "While this study confirms that some adolescents can achieve substantial weight loss and health improvements through diet and exercise, gastric banding should be considered for those severely obese adolescents who find primary weight loss methods unsuccessful".