article_snippet: Teenagers as young as 16 in Birmingham have undergone weight loss surgery (file picture) Obese teenagers as young as 16 have had NHS-funded gastric band operations, worrying new figures show.
article_snippet: And in a four-year period, the number of people aged under 30 receiving weight loss surgery in Birmingham more than doubled.
article_snippet: Figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre released under the Freedom of Information Act show in the last five years six teenagers aged 18 and under had bariatric surgery.
article_snippet: In the last five years six teenagers aged 18 and under had bariatric surgery. which includes gastric bands abd bypasses.
article_snippet: Nationally 16 teenagers under the age of 17 underwent stomach surgery in the last five years.
article_snippet: A 12-year-old boy has become the youngest person in Britain to have a gastric band fitted, as doctors struggle to fight the child obesity epidemic.
article_snippet: The schoolboy is one of an increasing number of youngsters who have had the controversial weight-loss operations, despite recommendations that such high-risk surgery should be a last resort when other efforts to slim down have failed.
article_snippet: Figures seen by The Mail on Sunday show that 62 young people aged 18 or under had the stomach-shrinking surgery at NHS and private hospitals over a three-year period.
article_snippet: 62 young people aged 18 or under had the stomach-shrinking surgery at NHS and private hospitals over a three-year period include the 12-year-old, one boy aged 13 and two boys aged 15.
article_snippet: A 12-year-old boy has become the youngest person in Britain to have a gastric band fitted as figures show 62 young people aged 18 or under had the stomach-shrinking surgery at NHS and private hospitals over a three-year period NHS .
article_snippet: Official statistics from the National Bariatric Surgery Register, which is compiled from surgeons’ reports, reveal that A 12-year-old boy is the youngest child to have been fitted with a gastric band within this group, although it is not recorded if the operation was publicly or privately funded.
article_snippet: NHS statisticians said the youngest patient NHS statisticians had on record for bariatric surgery paid for by the Health Service was 13.
highlights_snippet: Obese teenagers in Birmingham given drastic weight loss surgery .
  
highlights_snippet: In five-year period, six teens under 18 were given gastric bands or bypass .
  