Weight-loss surgery might reduce cancer risk

Women who have their stomachs stapled to lose weight may lower their risk of developing cancer.

In men, however, the surgery does not seem to have any effect on cancer risk.

Swedish researchers compared 2,010 obese men and women who got stomach-stapling surgery to 2,037 obese men and women who did not. They found women who had the surgery reduced their cancer risk by about 40 percent.

Only 79 women of the surgery group developed cancer, whereas 130 women did in the nonsurgery group. Thirty-eight men in the surgery group got cancer compared with 39 in the nonsurgery group.

Weight-loss surgery may have some effect on hormones, which are linked to many common cancers in women. Study findings appeared in the online issue of the Lancet Oncology.

New research suggests being obese can significantly increase a woman's risk of endometrial cancer and heart failure. Obesity, when combined with diabetes and heart disease, may also lead to dementia.