Weight Loss, Bariatric Surgery Help Improve Diabetes, Heart Problems in Patients

In a comprehensive study involving almost 4,000 obese people and spanning a period of more than three years, researchers found out that weight-loss surgery can scale down the risk of obesity-related health problems such as heart attack and diabetes.

According to the findings of a recent study, which was published in PLOS Medicine, those who have undergone weight-loss surgeries were 70% less likely to suffer a heart attack, reports WebMD. Meanwhile, people with type 2 diabetes were nine times more likely to experience a significant improvement when it comes to their diabetes. The study also revealed that these type of surgeries can also have a good effect on people with angina and sleep apnea.

Researchers of the study also took note of the growing number of obesity cases and the health risks that go along with the condition. They believe that it is important to find more ways to combat related diseases to obesity, US News Health reported.

"Obesity is one of the biggest health problems of our generation. Rates of cardiovascular disease, although slowly declining, are still alarmingly high while type 2 diabetes is on the rise, affecting 3.5 million people in Britain. Finding effective ways to tackle the obesity crisis is, therefore, a key public health strategy, Lead author Dr. Ian Douglas, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a statement.

"Whilst effective prevention is clearly needed, our findings show that as well as helping patients substantially lose weight, bariatric surgery improves serious obesity-related illnesses as well as reducing the risk of developing them," he added.

Rachel Batterham, who is also part of the study said that bariatric surgery is safe and can lead to amazing health benefits for both the patients and the government. People who undergo surgeries of this kind can improve the quality of their lives, while the government, particularly Britain's National Health Service, can save a lot of money, wrote BBC.

"Unfortunately, less than 1 percent of the patients who could benefit from this surgery currently receive surgery. This represents a major missed opportunity in terms of improving health and economic savings. Action is now needed to remedy this situation," said Batterham who is also the head of the Bariatric Centre for Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery at University College London Hospital and a professor at the Centre for Obesity Research at University College London in England.

In light of this, the British researchers said that the findings of the study only show that there is a need to make weight-loss surgery more widely available for the benefit of obese people.