Hundreds of people could get taxpayer-funded stomach-stapling operations each year under drastic measures being investigated to curb obesity.

With nearly one in three Kiwis overweight and 826,100 people classified as obese, according to the latest Government health survey, health officials confirm they are investigating a proposal that could allow hundreds of them to have surgery to beat the bulge.

The Health Ministry is considering "surgical and non-surgical options" for treating the morbidly obese, whose size is life-threatening. Last year there were just 70 publicly funded operations nationwide.

Classes are out for children across the country, but the fight to boost fitness and curb fat among America's youth doesn't end with the school year, researchers and health advocates say. That's why they're encouraging parents to turn off the television and video games and find ways to get kids moving.

Groups ranging from the American Heart Association to the National Association for Sport & Physical Education succeeded in efforts in Florida and Oklahoma this year to increase the time children spend in physical education classes. But the fourth consecutive defeat this spring of a similar measure in the Maryland legislature highlights the difficulties such campaigns face, even when concern about childhood obesity is high.

CORNER BROOK — These days, he is a young boy who likes to show off his skills with a basketball and a skateboard. But there was a time when Adam Critch’s family wondered if he would even be walking at the age of 10.

When he was three years old, a bout of gastroenteritis triggered what would eventually be discovered to be juvenile arthritis. Joint pain and fevers prompted a visit to his doctor, and blood work revealed something was wrong. Countless tests to rule out things like cancer and lupus eventually led to the diagnosis.

The family found themselves in Halifax, N.S. seven or eight times, and three more trips to St. John’s within a 10-month span for medical visits. The drug and physical therapies were a must, and those first couple of years were a struggle — physically, emotionally and financially.

LAKELAND | Mother Love feasted on homemade sausage, chitlins, doughnuts and fried chicken as a child.

Through much of adulthood, she kept cooking the way she'd seen her family cook.

"While I was squeezing oranges for breakfast, I'd be figuring out what to take out to fry for dinner," the author, humorist and performer said Thursday during a diabetes seminar at Word Alive Ministries in Lakeland.

TORONTO, (Reuters) -- Food prices, fuel costs and economic fears are growing, but that doesn't mean you can't eat healthfully while on a recession diet.

Feeding yourself and your family on a budget can still include nutritious lean protein, fruits and vegetables in your diet every day, said Holly Scherer, a registered dietician at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. It just requires an open mind and a bit of extra time.

For the 20 percent of Americans who need secondary gastric bypass surgery, there is a new, less painful technique available.

Marcia Mcalla, 36, thought she was on her way to having the body she always wanted when she underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery in 2002. At the time, she weighed 300 pounds and had tried every fad diet.

"I tried the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig,” Mcalla told FOXNews.com. “I just never really was successful at keeping it off."

I have had to work pretty hard to talk the occasional patient into bariatric surgery; going "under the knife" is always scary. In general, I work pretty hard to talk our society out of it. If anything in medicine is the proverbial double-edged sword, it's the scalpel blade used to perform a gastric bypass. The case for bariatric surgery is quite compelling. Once obesity develops, it's rather hard to reverse permanently. Testimony to this is found in the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry of lotions, potions, programs, and books- not to mention the more intimate evidence you might have from any personal weight control struggles.

In contrast to most of the offerings, which run from faint if genuine hope to outright snake oil, bariatric surgery -- which includes but is not limited to gastric bypass -- truly works. Large amounts of weight, sometimes measured in the hundreds of pounds, are routinely lost. More importantly, most of that weight lost stands the test of time. It is possible to gain back weight after bariatric surgery, but it is generally a challenge.

CHICAGO (June 26, 2008) – Morbidly obese patients who undergo a particular type of gastric bypass surgery called Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) are at an increased risk of developing kidney stones – small, pebble-like deposits that can result in severe pain and require an operation to remove them – earlier than previously thought. These stones develop in patients within only a few months following the procedure rather than several months to years, according to research published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

"Our data suggests that RYGB is associated with an increased risk of forming kidney stones as early as three months post-operation," according to the study's lead investigator, Manoj Monga, MD, FACS, Professor of Urologic Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. "We hope our findings and subsequent research will eventually allow clinicians to more accurately counsel patients on their individual risk of kidney stones and develop strategies for the prevention of this sometimes painful condition, such as dietary modification and medical therapy."

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery had metabolic benefits for insulin-dependent patients, according to recent study results presented at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Researchers from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., conducted a retrospective, observational study evaluating the effects of surgery in a cohort of obese patients with type 2 diabetes who were insulin-dependent.

Classes are out for children across the country, but the fight to boost fitness and curb fat among America's youth doesn't end with the school year, researchers and health advocates say. That's why they're encouraging parents to turn off the television and video games and find ways to get kids moving.

Groups ranging from the American Heart Association to the National Association for Sport & Physical Education succeeded in efforts in Florida and Oklahoma this year to increase the time children spend in physical education classes. But the fourth consecutive defeat this spring of a similar measure in the Maryland legislature highlights the difficulties such campaigns face, even when concern about childhood obesity is high.