Can you change the future? It’s a question that plenty of fictional time-travellers have asked, from Back to the Future’s Marty McFly and Doc Brown to Outlander’s Jamie and Claire.

When it comes to your health, your future is often the result of countless daily lifestyle choices around diet and exercise. Obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. That being the case, could bariatric surgery change your future?

What Is Cardiovascular Disease?

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to a broad range of conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels. It includes issues like:

• Coronary heart disease, including heart attacks
• Stroke
• Heart failure.

CVD can develop when deposits of cholesterol and other substances build up in the arteries to form plaque. This is known as atherosclerosis. It can reduce or block blood supply to the:

• Heart, causing angina or heart attack
• Brain, causing stroke.

These conditions can have a significant impact, reducing your quality of life and even leading to premature death.

What Causes Cardiovascular Disease?

The risk of cardiovascular disease is heavily influenced by lifestyle. Key risk factors include:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Unhealthy diet
• Insufficient physical activity.

Why Does Being Overweight Increase The Risk Of Heart Disease?

A large 2018 study found that people with obesity not only have a higher risk of heart disease but also face a higher risk of dying from heart disease compared to people who are a healthy weight.

Obesity can affect your heart in several ways. It means you’re more likely to:

• Experience insulin resistance or develop type 2 diabetes (another risk factor for heart disease)
• Have high blood pressure and high cholesterol
• Experience sleep apnoea, which increases the risk of heart failure by 140%
• Place extra demands on your heart – bigger people have a higher blood volume and the heart must then work harder to pump that blood around the body.

Losing weight can help to protect your heart.

Learn more about heart disease and weight loss with Dr Lockie and Dr Younger

How Does Bariatric Surgery Help?

Bariatric surgery changes your anatomy. Surgeries fall into two main types:

• Restrictive procedures make your stomach smaller so that you feel full more quickly and find it much harder (though not impossible!) to overeat
• Malabsorptive procedures also reduce the amount you can eat but they also impair your ability to absorb calories, meaning you must be careful to get the vitamins and other nutrients your body needs.

Bariatric surgery is a recognised treatment for obesity and can help to improve your:

• Heart health
• Blood pressure
• Quality of life.

It’s best to think of bariatric surgery as a kickstarter for weight loss, something that finally tips the scales in your favour. You’ll still need to make other lifestyle changes such as improving your diet and increasing your activity levels but that often feels easier once you start seeing the benefits.

Can Weight Loss Reverse Cardiovascular Disease?

Bariatric surgery can significantly reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease – indeed it may reduce the risk of heart attack by almost 50%.

As one review put it, “Abundant evidence shows that the adverse cardiovascular risk profile seen in obese subjects is profoundly improved 2–10 years after weight loss surgery.”

How Can Dr Lockie Help?

If you’d like to explore how bariatric surgery could help you lose weight and protect your heart, please come to see us.

Dr Lockie can advise you on medical and surgical weight loss options. We advocate a multidisciplinary approach to your care that addresses the many different factors that have contributed to your weight gain. Your care team will include a doctor, nurse, psychologist and exercise physiologist so that you can develop a healthier relationship with food and learn to enjoy exercise.

To get started, please book your free initial consultation with our practice nurse.

 

Disclaimer

All information is general and not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks.

 

References

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Heart, stroke and vascular disease: Australian facts, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/heart-stroke-vascular-diseases/hsvd-facts/contents/summary, [Accessed 15 November 2024]

• Heart Foundation, Key statistics: Risk factors for cardiovascular disease, https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/your-heart/evidence-and-statistics/key-statistics-risk-factors-for-heart-disease, [Accessed 15 November 2024]

• Khan SS, Ning H, Wilkins JT, Allen N, Carnethon M, Berry JD, Sweis RN, Lloyd-Jones DM. Association of Body Mass Index With Lifetime Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Compression of Morbidity. JAMA Cardiol. 2018 Apr 1;3(4):280-287. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2018.0022. PMID: 29490333; PMCID: PMC5875319. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5875319/, [Accessed 15 November 2024]

• Healthline, What’s the link between obesity and heart disease? https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/heart-disease-and-obesity#obesity-and-heart-disease, [Accessed 15 November 2024]

• Jean-Louis G, Zizi F, Clark LT, Brown CD, McFarlane SI. Obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease: role of the metabolic syndrome and its components. J Clin Sleep Med. 2008 Jun 15;4(3):261-72. PMID: 18595441; PMCID: PMC2546461. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2546461/#, [Accessed 15 November 2024]

• Healthdirect, Guide to bariatric surgery, https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/guide-to-bariatric-surgery, [Accessed 15 November 2024]

• Benraouane F, Litwin SE. Reductions in cardiovascular risk after bariatric surgery. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2011 Nov;26(6):555-61. doi: 10.1097/HCO.0b013e32834b7fc4. PMID: 21934498; PMCID: PMC4070434. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4070434/#, [Accessed 15 November 2024]