When obesity develops into morbid obesity, this excess weight gain and fat accumulation becomes much more serious, creating the risk of other medical conditions that may jeopardise a person's life. Morbid obesity is associated with many debilitating, life-threatening illnesses that affect both a person's health and quality of life while at the same time shortening average life expectancy.Since morbid obesity is a chronic disease, these other associated illnesses (co-morbidities) develop gradually but if left untreated, they all have a tendency to get worse. Studies have shown that once a person has developed morbid obesity, efforts such as diet and exercise programmes have little chance in generating significant, lasting weight loss. For the morbidly obese, bariatric (weight loss) surgery is the only documented method that leads to lasting weight loss when all other forms of treatment have failed.