A new study may show that weight loss surgery, previous reserved for those who are morbidly obese, may in fact help slow the aging process down for those who undergo the extreme procedure.
According to a new report by WebMD, weight loss surgeries in general have a unique effect on some of the people who undertake the procedure. The series, which usually reroute a patient's intestines or reduce the size of a patient's stomach, may affect the genetic indicator for aging. Telomeres are the tops or caps of a person's genes, and when these telomeres begin to wear down and shorten, the body begins to age in earnest. However, some patients who get weight loss surgery, in addition to dramatically losing weight, also see their telomeres lengthen, one year after the procedure.
Dr. John Morton, chief of bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine, as well as the study's co-author, is excited by these findings, as weight loss surgeries may do more than just hide the effects of aging. They might actually counteract the whole process:
"We know that we age on a genetic level...It's not just about wrinkles. It's the whole system, in which our body replaces cells continuously. The more they divide over time -- or the sicker you are -- the more the ends get frayed. Like a cap on a shoelace. But now we found that some -- not all, but some -- obese patients who lost a lot of weight after surgery saw significant improvements in telomere length," Morton added. "This is a pretty unique finding that we haven't seen before."
However, not all cases were able to get these positive effects. Specifically, those who have significant levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and LDL cholesterol levels before surgery are the main beneficiaries of the anti-aging side effects, and additionally see significant drops in these unhealthy substances. Morton believes there must be a link between these factors and the anti-aging effects of the surgery:
"All the patients lost weight and showed big improvements in cardiac health...But those who had very high inflammation and bad cholesterol before surgery were found to have longer telomeres following surgery, when inflammation and bad cholesterol went down. And the lengthening wasn't so subtle. We're talking about real, significant improvements. What this suggests is that some bariatric surgery patients are metabolically receptive to positive change that can improve markers for aging at a genetic level."
Morton is planning further study to isolate the cause of this phenomenon.
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