Two articles in an August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine report that gastric bypass surgery (bariatric surgery) can be a real lifesaver for extremely obese adults.

The two reports, one from Sweden and the other from the U.S., reveal that when obese people have surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs, they not only achieve massive weight loss and improved quality of life but, compared to those who did not have the surgery, they also have greatly reduced death rates from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Based on earlier reports about the improvements following bariatric surgery, the drops in diabetes and heart disease mortality were not surprising. Unexpected, however, was a 60 percent drop in the mortality from cancer.

Recent studies had found that obese people have a higher rate and risk of dying from certain cancers, but this is the first time that weight loss has been shown to lower the death rate from cancer.

So, given this exciting news about stomach surgery, why aren't more obese people having gastric bypass surgery? I'll deal with some of the pros and cons in a future entry.