Bariatric surgery or weight-loss surgery is designed to allow patients to achieve long-term, significant weight loss. The surgery drastically diminishes the caloric intake through either restricting the amount of food patients can ingest or allowing for a small amount of malabsorption of ingested food.The National Institutes of Health conference in 1991 identified gastric restrictive operations such as the Roux-en—Y gastric bypass as a safe and effective surgical treatment for obesity. It is only indicated in patients with a clearly documented history of failure at multiple dietary attempts and at least 100 pounds above their Metropolitan Life table weight figures or roughly equivalent to a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 40. Patients with a BMI greater than 35 with significant co-morbidities may also be candidates for surgery. Patients are typically between 18 and 65 years old.