A study found that structural abnormalities were reversed seen among the obese
The physical structure of the heart is rejuvenated by losing a lot of weight, and it does not matter if the loss is by surgery or by dieting, a new study by the British shows. People who started with a body mass index (BMI) averaging 40 (BMI of 30 usually marks obesity) had their heart muscles become much thinner and better when they got their BMI down to 32.2 in just a single year this is according to a report by the Aug. 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Weight loss from Bariatric surgery is designed to work by limiting the amount that a person can eat or metabolize or both.
Bariatric surgery and diets showed a comparable, great decrease in structure abnormalities and malfunctions of the heart, researchers at the University of Oxford reported.
37 obese people achieved an average weight loss of about 45 pounds the study found. Dr. Philip R. Schauer, director of the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute said, “its typically what is seen after bariatric surgery.”
Several of the people noted loss of weight by eating less and Schauer called it “quite unusual for someone to diet with that effect. These were a very special subset.”
Weight loss by diet has problems with “weight regain and this is the norm, but with bariatric surgery there is lots of evidence that there is maintained weight loss,” Schaurer said.
A cardiac MRI, a special x-ray technique was used by Oxford researchersto obtain detailed information on the hearts structures of not just the 37 obese participants, but those of 20 normal-weight volunteers with an average BMI was 21. The walls of the left and right ventricles, the blood-pumping chambers of the heart were found significantly thicker in the obese people. Also found was the hearts ability to hold blood at diastole, hearbeats resting point, in the obese.
A year after weight loss the obese peoples heart muscles were less overgrown and more blood could be held by the heart. The thickening of the main heart artery, the aorta was reduced greatly after weight loss.
“The findings could provide a mechanism for the mortality reduction seen with weight loss,” the researchers wrote.
Something of a medical mystery is explained – why grossly overweight people are more at risk of sudden death and heart attack than their numbers show, said Dr Christine Ren, a bariatric surgeon who is an associate professor of surgery at New York University Langone Medical Center.
“Most of them say they are pretty healthy, maybe with a slight elevation of blood pressure, but when you really drill down to it you can show an abnormal cardiac function,” Ren Said. “The Point is that their heart is not normal that already is having a negative effect on their health.”
Weight loss by dieting is desirable, “but diets have a problem because statistics show maintenance of weight loss by diet is extremely difficult and quite rare,” Ren said.
Bariatric surgery can be expensive, with costs being anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 she said, and it not perfect. “There is always going to be a small percentage of the people who gain a lot of the weight back, but it is still the best chance for having significant weight loss,” Ren said.
There is uncertainty when it comes to the coverage of bariatric surgery by health insurance companies and it varies from company to company and state to state, she said, and lots of plans are putting more limits on coverage.
