News & Articles

This is according to research on 30,000 obese patients. Out of those who went through bariatric surgery, only 2.9% were found to have cancer after a 10-year follow-up and 4.9% of people who underwent non-surgical weight loss registered the disease.

This translates to a 32% less risk of getting cancer due to obesity, thanks to bariatric surgery.

In the study, obesity-related cancer became a composite of 13 types. The findings from those who had weight loss surgery and the long-term positive effects showed that patients can lose about 20-40% of body weight and still sustain their weight loss over decades.

This indicates that the more weight a patient loses, the lower their risk for cancers like gallbladder, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, colon, thyroid, corpus uteri, renal cell carcinoma, esophageal, and more.

Bariatric Surgery involves different surgical procedures that help restrict food consumption and malabsorption of nutrients. The procedures are often performed on patients with obesity and a BMI of 30 or higher.

Besides weight loss, the effects of bariatric surgery show a reduced cancer risk, elimination or reduction of obesity-related illnesses like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and more.

The risk for cancer was especially lower for all the patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedures. In addition to low cancer risks, cancer-related mortality also dropped significantly.

The American Cancer Society places obesity second to tobacco when it comes to cancer-causing variants that are preventable in the U.S.

This research clearly shows that intentional weight loss through bariatric surgery can help minimize the risk and mortality for many cancers.

This study isn’t the first to highlight the enormous benefits of bariatric surgery. Other studies have confirmed these findings before. Bariatric surgery helps patients live longer, cancer-free, healthier lives.