CHICAGO — Emily Peterson tried basically every diet available, underwent a failed lap band surgery, and then, last year, had bariatric surgery.
“All I wanted from the time that I was a little girl, I mean, probably as young as 5, 6, 7 years old, I just so wanted to be skinny,” Peterson said. “I have just a lifetime of little horror stories.”
“There’s a whole list of things that bariatric surgery makes better,” said Dr. Philip Omotosho, a gastrointestinal surgeon at Rush University Medical Center.
He was part of a team to study almost 29,000 morbidly obese patients. They found that gastric bypass surgery significantly reduced the risk of all cancers, including uterine, colorectal and lung, some by more than 50%.
“The insulin resistance improves after bariatric surgery, and we know that insulin resistance and growth factors have been actually implicated in some of these cancer pathways,” Omotosho said.
Another study done by Omotosho found bariatric surgery lowered the risk of Ischemic stroke, and 52% of the gastric bypass patients had complete remission of their type-two diabetes. None of the patients who did not have surgery saw a remission of their diabetes.
Before bypass, Peterson was told she was prediabetic. One year later, she has changed that trajectory and lost 105 pounds.
“I’m smaller now than I was in junior high school,” Peterson said, “so this is all completely uncharted territory. I’ve never been this size in my life, let alone as an adult.”
As of 2017, all 50 states have obesity rates over 20%. Two decades ago, no state had a rate above 15%, and as rates rise, you can expect health care costs to rise as well. In fact, obesity costs Americans $147 billion each year. People who are obese pay almost $1,500 more out of pocket for healthcare than people who are not.
A reminder: bariatric surgery, like any surgery, carries its own risks that need to be discussed with your doctor.
