Experts warn patients to approach gastric banding with caution in wake of television star's admission

Following revelations from television presenter Fern Britton that her rapid weight loss was a consequence of surgery, not diet and exercise, experts have warned patients that the drastic treatment should only be used as a last resort.

The This Morning presenter, who has lost five stone and dropped four dress sizes, confirmed in June 2008 that she took the decision to undergo a gastric band operation after years of struggling with her weight.

However, some experts fear her slimmer new look could encourage people to seek the treatment for the wrong reasons.

Gastric banding, which involves making the stomach smaller, has doubled in popularity in the UK over the past two years and is widely offered abroad. Though it is available on the NHS, only those who have serious obesity-related health conditions, or are at risk of developing them, are considered.

However, gastric banding is undertaken at private clinics, costing from £6,000 per patient.

During surgery, a silicone band is put around the top of the stomach to create a pouch. This fills with food quicker so the patient feels full and eats less. As the patient loses weight the band, designed to stay in place for life, can be tightened from outside the body by filling it with saline.

It is different to an operation called gastroplasty, sometimes known as stomach stapling, which involves dividing the stomach so that part of the bowel is bypassed.

Less food is absorbed so it can be an even more effective way of tackling obesity. More than 5,000 of the two treatments are now performed annually in the UK.

Dr David Haslam, a physician in obesity management at Luton and Dunstable hospital in Bedfordshire, said such operations were usually highly successful.

But he added: ''Gastric banding is major surgery and no one should seek the treatment just because their latest diet has failed. ''Unfortunately, money talks and it's inevitable that the surgery will be available privately when it may not be appropriate."

He warned that the surgery carries serious potential side-effects and risks.

Although standards are high in the UK, where keyhole surgery is normally used, the death rate for gastric banding surgery is about one in 200.

In some cases the gastric band has been known to slip or erode, requiring a further operation.

Others, who lose weight rapidly following gastric banding, can be left with unsightly loose folds of skin requiring additional plastic surgery.