Heart Muscle Boosted By Bariatric Surgery As Well As Diet

the walls of the heart had reduced in thickness

Shedding the pounds will improve your heart health whether you lose the weight because of your diet or whether you lose the weight following bariatric surgery. Evidence for this comes from a new study done by UK researchers at Oxford University.

The research was done by making use of special cardiac X-rays on a group of 37 volunteers who had an average BMI of 40. The researchers monitored the patients and when their BMI had reduced to about 32 they saw that irrespective of the way the weight had been lost there were significant improvements in heart health. The cardiac X-rays showed that in both groups of patients the walls of the heart had reduced in thickness and it was able to hold more blood.

This research should make interesting reading to people considering having bariatric surgery to lose weight. Bariatric surgery is often used as a last resort for people who have been unable to lose weight with conventional dieting and who are often suffering from obesity related conditions which could be life threatening. While getting to the point where bariatric surgery is needed is obviously not recommended, the benefits of having the surgery almost always outweigh the risks and disadvantages.

Some people find it impossible to diet and no matter how many weight loss plans they are given and no matter how much counseling they get they continue to put on weight. Bariatric surgery which reduces the size of the stomach makes it physically impossible for the person to continue to eat the large quantities which they had previously consumed. In many cases the surgery provides long term health benefits and the patients not only lose weight but stay thin too.

The research was published in the respected Journal of the American College of Cardiology.