A recent study has shown that weight loss surgery reduces the risk of premature death.
Premature death can be because of obesity related conditions, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
The 40- year study involving nearly 22,000 people who had undergone a bariatric surgery in Utah, confirmed that in comparison to those of similar weight, people who underwent one of four types of weight loss surgery were 16% less likely to die from any cause.
The drop in deaths from diseases triggered by obesity, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, was even more dramatic.
“Deaths from cardiovascular disease decreased by 29%, while deaths from various cancers decreased by 43%, which is pretty impressive,” said lead author Ted Adams, an adjunct associate professor in nutrition and integrative physiology at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine.
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“There was also a huge percentage drop — a 72% decline — in deaths related to diabetes in people who had surgery compared to those who did not,” he said. One significant downside.
The Swedish study also found a considerable number of people were in remission from diabetes at both two years and 10 years after surgery.
“This new research from Utah is more evidence that people who undergo these procedures have positive, beneficial long-term outcomes,” said Grunvald, who coauthored the American Gastroenterological Association’s new guidelines on obesity treatment.
The association strongly recommends patients with obesity use recently approved weight loss medications or surgery paired with lifestyle changes.
“And the key for patients is to know that changing your diet becomes more natural, easier to do after you have bariatric surgery or take the new weight loss medications,” said Grunvald, who was not involved in the Utah study.
“While we don’t yet fully understand why, these interventions actually change the chemistry in your brain, making it much easier to change your diet afterwards.”
According to Dr. Caroline Apovian, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and codirector of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, only a small percentage of eligible patients receive bariatric surgery, often due to the stigmatization of obesity.