Severe obesity has been known to be associated with life threatening morbidities

including Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, asthma, sleep apnea, hypertension and heart
disease.

Epidemiological data have consistently demonstrated that there is an increasing

evidence of a positive correlation between increased body weight and malignancies
of the breast, pancreas, ovaries, esophagus and the colon. In fact, oncologists
even suggest a more aggressive screening for cancers in the obese: especially for
breast, uterine, and colorectal cancers.

So, is there an association between colorectal cancer and weight loss surgery?

Researchers believe that dysregulation of energy homeostasis is associated with

colorectal carcinogenesis, with insulin resistance (the impaired ability to
normalize plasma glucose levels inspite of adequate insulin reserves) being the
core of these pathogenesis. The alteration of the patient's hormonal milieu due to
weight loss therefore may result in a lower incidence of these cancers.

In a study of 1482 women with severe obesity, it was found that those who had not
undergone bariatric surgery had a significantly higher cancer diagnosis rate (5.8
versus 3.6 percent) than did the patients who had undergone bariatric surgery.
There is clinical evidence to suggest that obese women who undergo bariatric
surgery experience as much as a 42 percent drop in the relative risk for
developing a malignancy.

In a retrospective study, researchers compared 1,035 morbidly obese patients who

underwent bariatric surgery with 5,746 patients with the same weight profile who
did not undergo the operation. They found that the incidence of diagnosis of
colorectal cancer in the first group was 70 percent lower than the second group.
The study group also reported a significantly lower incidence of other
malignancies in the first group.

Given that obesity affects the body in various ways, a single hypothesis cannot
fully explain the result of weight loss surgery on the incidence of colorectal
cancer. A possible explanation is that excess body fat is responsible for hormonal
imbalances which constitute a major risk factor for colorectal malignancies.

The decrease in body weight, as well the increase in the distal small intestine
hormone peptide YY (PYY), and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which are secreted
by intestinal L cells consequent to weight loss surgery result in an altered
metabolic milieu. The chronic low grade inflammation known to be associated with
obesity decreases, as does the oxidative stress, resulting in protection from
malignancies, including those of the colon.

It is therefore difficult to attribute the decreased risk for cancer to weight

loss alone and multiple factors both pre- and post-bariatric surgery have to be
evaluated before reaching a conclusion. Another important consideration when
considering the impact of weight loss surgery on cancer risk is that diet and
exercise have not proven very effective strategies for weight loss in the morbidly
obese.

Researchers therefore maintain that even though there are no randomized case
control trials to suggest that sustained weight loss through bariatric surgery
decreases the risk of death from colorectal cancer, especially in men, who are
most at risk for this, weight loss surgery could be protective for colorectal
cancer as well as other obesity related malignancies.

Alma Orozco is a certified patient coordinator of the Ready4Achange team for

http://www.ready4achange.com. Monterrey is rated as the safest city in Latin
America and the medical facilities out there are certified by US hospitals. The
low cost of living makes surgery very affordable in Mexico. You can check out
http://ready4achange.com/gastric-sleeve-surgery-mexico done by Dr Zapata at CIMA
Monterrey by clicking on the link.