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One of the largest bariatric surgery investigation spread across four years in 8,000 patients reveal the health benefits of surgery, especially for people who are severely overweight, the authors of the study told PLoS Medicine. Around 8,000 people get treated on the NHS and if all 1.4m could receive the surgical treatment, the researchers estimate that it would avert as many as 5,000 heart attacks and over 40,000 cases of type 2 diabetes in four years. Since surgeries are all a risky proposition, the patients should be offered surgery only if they have failed to lose weight through exercise and balanced diet, as reported by BBC News.

Lead author Dr. Ian Douglas, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said "Obesity is one of the biggest health problems of our generation". The only way to qualify for this surgery is if your other attempts to lose weight have failed and you have no other choice but to go for the surgery, according to Waltonian.com

"Bariatric surgery is safe and produces unrivalled health benefits that are life-changing for patients and cost-saving [for Britain's National Health Service]," said study co-author Dr Rachel Batterham, who is head of the Bariatric Centre for Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery at University College London Hospital, as well as a professor at the Centre for Obesity Research at University College London. "Unfortunately, less than one percent of the patients who could benefit from this surgery currently receive surgery. This represents a major missed opportunity in terms of improving health and economic savings. Action is now needed to remedy this situation," she said in a news release from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, which partnered with University College London in the study, reports Caribbean 360.