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A recent local study reveals that there might be big health benefits that can happen due to small weight loss.

Researchers from Washington University, led by Dr. Sam Klein, discovered that even small weight loss can substantially reduce an obese person's risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"You get the biggest bang for your buck with a 5 percent weight loss," Klein says. "When you lose 5 percent of your body weight, in people who are obese but do not have type-two diabetes, you improve metabolic function in multiple organ systems simultaneously."

Klein adds that there should be increased awareness amongst people about this fact that even small amount of weight loss can go a long way in improving your health.

"So, if you weigh 200 pounds, if you can lose 10 pounds of your body weight and keep it off, you really will be doing yourself a major favor in terms of your health," Klein says.

For the purpose of the study, researchers examined 40 obese people who lost 5%, 10%, and 15% of their body weight, as reported by WebMD

The study, published Feb. 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism, revealed that even 5% weight loss was enough to reduce several risk factors such as heart disease and diabetes.

"These results demonstrate you get a large bang for your buck with a 5 percent weight loss," senior study author Samuel Klein, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a journal news release.

"Our findings show that even a small amount of weight loss has important health benefits for multiple organ systems," Klein said. "We hope that these findings will encourage obese people to take reasonable steps to watch what they eat and increase their physical activity, because this will translate into a lower risk for diabetes and heart disease," as per CBS St. Louis