A Swedish medical study reported that the process of stapling the stomach, that is, creating a fold in it to reduce its capacity for the purpose of losing weight, may also reduce the risk of cancer by 40 percent. The study included more than 2,000 obese people, both men and women, who underwent the stapling process to lose weight, but the risk of developing cancer decreased in women without men. “This is another small piece of a complex picture,” said Dr. Lynn Lichtenfeld, of the team that carried out the study. There appears to be a relationship between weight and cancer, but many links remain missing in this relationship.”

The Swedish scholars followed a group of 2010 obese people since 1987, after they underwent the stapling process, for ten years, and they followed another 2037 who did not undergo the process. In the first category, 79 women were diagnosed with cancer, while 130 were infected in the category that was not stapled. The injuries included various types of cancer, including breast, skin and blood cancers. As for men, 38 were injured in the category that underwent stapling, compared to 39 in the second category.

And two other studies had shown that the risk of developing cancer decreases in women after undergoing stapling, and another study concluded that the operation may extend the life of those who undergo it by ten years, regardless of their gender.

Experts have long believed that obesity increases the risk of developing cancer, possibly because fat cells produce hormones that cause it. But doctors could not prove that reducing weight by methods other than stapling, such as diets, for example, helps reduce the risk of cancer.