Sufficient and sustained weight loss can cut your risk of fatal heart attack or stroke in half.
In the ABC of the health effects of obesity, G stands for gallstones.
The top gastrointestinal reason for hospitalization is gallbladder attack. Each year, more than 1 million Americans are diagnosed with gallstones, and approximately 700,000 must have their gallbladder surgically removed. It is a relatively safe surgery, with complication rates tending to be less than 5% and mortality rates of only about 1 in 1,000 people. However, 1 in 10 people may develop post-cholecystectomy syndrome, where gastrointestinal symptoms persist long after the gallbladder is removed.
What are gallstones made of? In 80 to 90 percent of cases, gallstones are primarily crystallized cholesterol, which forms like rock candy in the gallbladder when the cholesterol becomes too concentrated. This was used to explain why some small early studies found that non-vegetarians had a higher incidence of gallstones. However, the results of more recent large-scale studies are more equivocal. For example, one study suggests that a vegetarian diet may protect against gallbladder disease, and another study shows that vegetarians have a higher incidence of the disease, regardless of body weight.
As I explain in my video, “The Impact of Obesity on Gallstones, Acid Reflux, and Cardiovascular Disease,” the biggest causally linked risk factor may be obesity; As shown, the risk increases by a factor of 7. In my video, 32 doubles your risk even on the heavier side of the “normal BMI range.”
Ironically, rapid weight loss can also be a trigger. Based on gallstone formation, 0.2 kg per day is considered a medically safe upper limit for weight loss. An ultrasound study found that the chance of developing a new gallstone per week can increase from less than 1 in 200 to nearly 1 in 40, as shown at 1 minute 59 seconds below. Ta.
To prevent gallstone attacks, you can increase your fiber intake. Not only is dietary fiber intake associated with reduced gallbladder disease in the first place, but people who consumed high-fiber foods during their weight loss regimens also experienced lower rates of weight loss compared to those who lost the same amount of weight without consuming extra fiber. The sludge in the gallbladder was significantly reduced.
G also stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Consuming fiber-rich foods also reduces the risk of acid reflux. I previously investigated how chronic straining during stool pushes parts of the stomach into the thoracic cavity. Excess abdominal pressure due to obesity can have a similar effect, pushing acid up your throat and causing heartburn and inflammation. The increased pressure on abdominal organs associated with obesity may also explain why overweight women suffer from vaginal prolapse, where organs such as the rectum are forced into the vaginal cavity.
The deadliest letter in the alphabet of obesity effects is H, which stands for heart disease. Of the 4 million deaths cause Every year, people around the world gain excess weight, and nearly 70% of it is due to cardiovascular disease. Is it simply a matter of bad eating habits? Mendelian randomization study suggest Based solely on genetics, people randomly assigned to be heavier from conception actually have higher rates of heart disease and stroke, regardless of what they eat. The question is, does losing weight reduce your risk?
Join the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study. This is the first long-term controlled trial to compare outcomes in thousands of bariatric surgery patients to matched control subjects who started at the same weight and went the non-surgical route. Patients in the control group maintained their weight, while patients in the surgery group maintained a weight loss of about 20 percent over the next 10 to 20 years. During that period, the weight loss group not only experienced an 80% reduction in the incidence of diabetes, but also significantly fewer heart attacks and strokes. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the overall all-cause mortality rate was significantly reduced. After 10 years, the weight loss group appeared to have cut their risk of fatal heart attack or stroke in half, as shown below and at 4 minutes 23 seconds of my video.
If you missed the previous videos in my series on the ABCs of obesity, please see below.
We continue the topic of obesity and weight with a video in the related article below.
For more information on the health conditions discussed in this video, please visit our Gallstones, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, and Heart Disease topic pages.
The gastroesophageal reflux disease related videos I mentioned are diet and hiatal hernia.
