AHA Report Discussing the Benefits of Weight Loss Surgery

A scientific statement released by the American Heart Association in 2011, the first of its kind, concluded that weight loss surgery may benefit those who are severely obese and cut their overall cardiac health risk, depending on the patient. Of course they rightly acknowledge that the risk factors of bariatric surgery (and indeed any surgery) must be taken into account and weight loss surgery is not right for everyone.

As part of this study, researchers in the United States and Canada assessed the heart risks of bariatric procedures and found that the many of the benefits of the surgery outweigh the overall risk of surgery.

For more information on this report, please visit the AHA website: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/123/15/1683.full.pdf

‍According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than two-thirds of Americans are overweight and over one-third are obese. A significant number of Americans are extremely obese (BMI over 40) as well. Northern California is not immune to this epidemic and obesity represents a huge cost to the state healthcare system as well as untold cost in loss of life and lifestyle to the individuals suffering from this debilitating disease.

Benefits of weight loss surgery include lower weight, reversal or improvement of type 2 diabetes, lowered blood pressure, improved cholesterol and sleep apnea. Improving these co-morbidities, as they are called, lead to a much reduced incidence of deadly follow-on diseases.

According to the most recent figures from the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, in 2009, more than 200,000 people underwent weight loss surgery in the United States. Many of these people have found diet, exercise and weight loss pills to be ineffective or only effective in the short term. Indeed, bariatric surgery is currently the only long-term effective weight loss solution for those who are morbidly obese.