Bariatric Surgery And Cancer: How They Are Related?

Obesity has always been one of the pressing concerns of the health world. Every significant number of people succumb to the many perils of these diseases that often manifest as other fatal diseases. While exercise and diet are always the best options, there are cases where they don’t work as much as we want them to.

Lately, bariatric surgery has gained huge popularity thanks to a large number of celebrities opting for it. The procedure is also now performed in a safer environment pushing people to opt for it rather than depend on the good old ways. Doctors are pretty divided when it comes to the benefits and the risks of the surgery.

However, there has been a claim doing rounds on the internet according to which bariatric surgery can reduce Cancer risks in women. So through this blog, we aim to find out more about the relationship between bariatric surgery and Cancer. Keep on reading to know what we uncover.

What Is Bariatric Surgery?

Before we talk about how bariatric surgery and Cancer prevention in women could actually go hand-in-hand, we would like to elaborate on what the procedure entails. Unlike the olden days, every person knows what the surgery is all about all thanks to our glam celebrities who are obsessed with looks.

However, not all bariatric surgeries are about getting zero figures. Many are often performed to alleviate the threat posed by having fat deposits in the body. It includes a surgical intervention in one’s digestive tract to ensure some weight reduction.

There are many types of bariatric surgeries including gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric banding, and gastric diversion. Though different in terms of invasiveness and procedure, their basic idea is to limit the intake of food by modifying the size of your stomach.

Why Does Obesity Increase The Cancer Risk?

Obesity is a slow killer that most people seldom realize and by the time they do, it would be too late to go back. Besides causing heart ailments, joint pains, diabetes, high blood pressure, and a long list of ailments, it is now also considered a risk factor in female Cancer patients.

This could also be the reason Cancer and bariatric surgery have become the most searched keywords on the Internet. Now getting into the reasons why obesity poses a cancer threat, obesity promotes insulin resistance, and swelling in tissues which ultimately leads to hormonal imbalance.

A major part of women’s anatomy works on the hormones and this can lead to cancer according to experts. Additionally, it has also been claimed that the fat deposits often seen in the abdomen, glutes, and breasts can increase the chance of a tumor that could be cancerous. Some of the medical literature also stresses that fat can ensure the release of cytokines which makes us prone to developing this fatal disease.

Bariatric surgery and cancer don’t present a direct relation. Albeit, the main aim of bariatric surgery is to reduce weight. Since obesity causes multiple diseases and symptoms that can be directly or indirectly linked to cancer, getting bariatric surgery can perhaps reduce the risk.

Additionally, by getting bariatric surgery and managing their weight, women are also known to get a hold of their haywire hormones which regulate all their functions.

Does Bariatric Surgery Reduce The Risk Of Cancer In Women?

Now to answer the big question that looms over us, the connection between cancer and bariatric surgery is yet to be fully established. This means conclusive results have not been obtained to establish that bariatric surgery can reduce the risk of all cancers in women.

However according to a study conducted by Ali Aminian in their paper, Association of Bariatric Surgery with Cancer Risk and Mortality in Adults with Obesity, it was found that “Among adults with obesity, bariatric surgery compared to no surgery was associated with a significantly lower incidence of obesity-associated cancer and Cancer-related mortality.”

In females particularly, there is only 41% risk associated with the development of endometrial, ovarian, and post-menopausal breast cancer. This is often associated with the fact that hormonal regulation is a prime factor in determining a woman’s health. A lot of this is related to obesity and when bariatric surgery is able to control that, they are channelized.

Ovarian, post-menopausal breast cancer and Endometrial cancer are often believed to be caused by the irregular production of Insulin as well. When that is reduced, the risk goes down significantly. Recent studies have also been able to establish a connection between Colorectal cancer and Obesity though more research is yet to be conducted in that area. This means bariatric surgery can provide relief to those suffering from this fatal disease as well.

Bariatric surgery and Cancer are yet to be studied in a descriptive manner in order to reach a plausible conclusion. Despite all this, obesity is never a good idea and one should maintain their weight.