Obese patients 'at high risk from complications after critical illnesses and trauma'
Obese patients face a higher likelihood of severe inflammation, cell death and multi-system organ failure in the aftermath of trauma, severe burns, critical illnesses or acute pancreatitis, a new study has found.Research published in Translational Medicine has studied how being fat can lead to complications after sudden inflammatory illnesses that are not based on infection diseases, which could lead people to seek to lose weight.
Dr Vijay Singh, assistant professor at the division of gastro-enterology, hepatology and nutrition at the Pitt School of Medicine, has identified a by-product obese people create when digesting unsaturated fat as the cause of this effect.
He said: "Our findings indicate that the breakdown of unsaturated fat in acute inflammatory conditions can lead to tissue damage throughout the body."
Dr Singh said that now doctors have identified this effect it is necessary to find ways to reduce deaths and prevent the process from happening.
Those who try and shift the pounds by adopting a low-fat diet could also cut their risk of developing bowel cancer, according to research by the Association for International Cancer Research.
