Surgery Drops Weight, Aids Health Long-Term

Weight loss surgery helps people keep weight off for at least 6 years, and also leads to lasting health improvements, a new study shows. The study focused on 1,150 severely obese people. More than 400 of them had gastric bypass surgery. The procedure they had blocks off part of the stomach. The small pouch that is left is attached to the small intestine, bypassing the first part of it. Other people in the study tried to lose weight just with diet and exercise. After 6 years, people in the surgery group had lost about 28% of their weight. Of those who had type 2 diabetes before surgery, 62% no longer had the disease. About 42% of those with high blood pressure returned to normal pressure. The no-surgery groups did not lose any weight long-term. During the study, 17% of those in the no-surgery groups who did not have diabetes developed the disease.