Weight Loss Surgery May Reduce Asthma Flare-Ups

A recent report has suggested that people with obesity who are suffering from asthma can benefit by opting for a weight loss surgery. Generally, the trend of people going under the knife to cut down their flab and fat is not new but most people do it for cosmetic purposes rather than medical. Of course, cutting down all that extra weight will improve your health. However, this new study has shown that people who had surgery for losing weight experienced an improvement in their overall health and were able to manage their asthma better.

The study was conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital and was led by Dr. Kohai Hasegawa. Dr. Hasegawa stated that surgery might prove to be the best solution for people seeking to lose weight without putting in extra effort, i.e. exercising and going on a diet. Yet, at the same time, the study also didn’t report any cases of people actually benefiting from the surgery in terms of weight loss. There have been cases where people put on the weight that they dropped with the surgery, rendering the whole procedure worthless.

Coming back to the point, there was no direct connection between the weight lost due to the surgery and the reduction in asthmatic problems as experienced by the patients. However, it does show that losing fat around the upper torso, especially the neck region, does help improve breathing and reduces the pressure on the windpipe and the respiratory system. Hence, it can be inferred that weight loss surgery does indeed lead to a lower incidence of flare-ups related to asthma.

Even though weight loss surgery can indeed lead to a reduction in problems related to asthma, it might not necessarily mean that doctors would recommend people going under the knife for weight loss to improve their breathing problems. It might be some time before the two conditions are linked together directly. As of now, there are over 25 million people suffering from asthma in the U.S. currently. Now, as far as the study goes, that would mean 25 million weight loss surgeries will be all it takes to reduce flare-ups. But that would be too simplistic a solution.

Only people whose health is at stake because of their excess weight are assigned for weight loss surgeries. Therefore, people who suffer from asthma but don’t have a weight problem might not be able to benefit from this solution.