New Delhi, July 11 -- Obesity treatment is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach. As the popularity of GLP-1 weight-loss medicines spreads, some people with obesity ask the question: Can medicine replace bariatric surgical treatment? Though both have been shown to provide meaningful medical improvements, experts say they're not competing therapies; they are complementary regimens chosen according to a person's body mass index (BMI), comorbidities, weight-loss history and long-term expectations.

Some patients will be appropriately treated with weight-loss drugs, while the optimal treatment for severe obesity remains bariatric surgery in most cases and at least set to remain one of the few long-term interventions that produce clinically m...