Stomach Stapling Lowers Women’s Cancer
June 24, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
The relationship between weight and cancer risk is a bit of a mystery to researchers. They know that obesity is a risk factor for cancer, but it’s not understood exactly how or why.
A new study sheds a little more light on the subject. Women, but not men, had a decreased risk of cancer following stomach stapling. The Swedish bariatric surgery study was published online at The Lancet. You can also read more at msnbc/health.
The study, which began in 1987, included 2,010 obese patients who had stomach stapling performed and 2,037 obese controls who didn’t have the surgery.
Of the women who had surgery, 79 went on to develop various types of cancer, while 139 women in the control group got cancer. However, no such cancer reduction was seen among the men in the study. Experts aren’t sure why only women saw the cancer reduction benefit.
While the study results are encouraging, stomach stapling isn’t necessary for everyone. Finding other ways to lose weight can also offer cancer reduction benefits.
(Image via flickr)
