Liposuction and metabolic problems

Obesity is associated with various metabolic problems that raise the risk of heart disease. Although liposuction can produce dramatic weight loss, the operation does nothing to address the metabolic issues.From previous studies there was a suggestion that liposuction might improve some of the metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity, mainly the risk factors for heart disease. But there were some flaws and limitations with those studies.With the newer liposuction techniques developed in the last decade, one can now remove much larger volumes of fat than previously. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis thought it would be worthwhile to re-evaluate liposuction as a potential treatment for obesity related metabolic abnormalities. Even with a relatively large amount of fat removal, there was no evidence that liposuction altered the patients' metabolic abnormalities.

The study involved 15 obese women who were assessed before and 12 weeks after undergoing liposuction. Seven of the women had type 2 diabetes. As expected, liposuction was associated with substantial reductions in body fat and body weight. Despite these effects, there was no change in the patients' metabolic abnormalities, such as poor sensitivity to insulin and elevated blood levels of certain inflammation proteins. In addition, the operation did not reduce high cholesterol levels or high blood pressure. This study helps re-evaluate the whole paradigm of what weight loss does for obese people. Liposuction removes whole fat cells, It does not change the remaining fat cells and the fat that is present in (other) tissues, like liver and muscles. In contrast, with dieting, there is a general shrinking of all fat cells that seems to have beneficial metabolic effects.

Researchers noted that because it is a forced type of dieting, stomach-stapling surgery, unlike liposuction, does have a beneficial effect on metabolic parameters.

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