Up until now, Liposuction has been seen as the “fat killer,” but a new study conducted by Rutgers University finds that the removal of abdominal fat may reduce the risk of developing skin cancer that is induced by ultraviolet-light. Skin cancer is the most commonly found form of cancer, with a couple of million or so cases each year.
In the study, mice were first fed a high fat diet. Then researchers quickly removed any fat from their abdomens. It was found that the mice who underwent the surgery had as many as 75-80 percent fewer UV-induced skin cancers. The study also revealed that protein secreted within mice’s abdomens increased the risk of cancer.
Allan Conney, a professor at Rutgers University and co-author of the study, hopes that the findings encourage epidemiologists to study this occurrence in humans, in an effort to see if these findings are replicated from the study done using mice. He also pointed out that it is unclear whether liposuction or any other fat reducing method, would affect the rates of other cancers such as those found in the colon, prostate and pancreas.
