With 42% of adults in the US dealing with obesity, bariatric surgery is an option that can not only help someone lose weight but can additionally offer positive health outcomes. Bariatric surgery can help control type 2 diabetes over time, lowers the risk of progression to liver disease, and decreases the risk for serious heart complications.
Obesity increases the risk for developing 13 types of cancer which accounts for 40% of all cancers diagnosed yearly in the US. A recent study provided evidence that people who had undergone bariatric surgery, either gastric bypass or gastric sleeve operations, had a 48% lower risk of dying from cancer. The benefits of the weight loss surgery held for both men and women, young and old, and black and white patients. Given these results, weight loss surgery should be considered in addition to other interventions as a way to prevent cancer and reduce mortality.
