Weight Loss Surgery Options Can Reduce Cancer Risk by 80 Percent

Obese people are at the risk of developing 33 types of cancer. According to a research study carried out at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Canada, in June 2008, weight loss surgery options were found to reduce obesity by 70 percent and the risk of cancer by 80 percent.

The study was the first of its kind to reveal that this surgery reduced the cancer risk. Results of the study were presented at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery in June 2008.

How Weight Loss Surgical Options Can Bring Down Cancer Risks?

• The results of the study were known after analysing 1,035 patients who underwent the surgery and 5,746 patients who did not undergo the operation between 1986 and 2002 at the research center.
• Diagnosis of cancer in the morbidly obese group one was 70 percent lower for colon and pancreatic cancers and 85 percent lower for breast cancer when compared to the morbidly obese group two patients along with the reduced risks of other cancer types.
• Though the effect of obesity on the body is complex to understand, the researchers believe that this physical disorder disturbs the hormone producing mechanism of the body.
• Hormones are the signalling molecules which either initiate or end various chemical processes.
• Excess fat in the body causes the disruption by increasing the production of these signalling molecules and raises the risk of developing breast and colon cancers.
• Weight loss caused by surgery is believed to change the hormone production in the body of patients to cause the beneficial effects.

Conclusion: In the United States, the National Institutes of Health recommends weight loss surgical options to obese people with BMI factor 40. The media is helping in the development of awareness about the benefits of this surgery by covering news of celebrities who have opted for it in recent times. The general public (especially those whose loved ones suffer from obesity) as a result is increasingly trying out these surgical options.