Weight loss surgery was found by a recent study to lower the risk of developing cancer for people who are overweight. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal allege that gastric bypass surgery, known to reduce heart disease and diabetes in obese people may also reduce their chance of cancer by as much as 80 percent.

The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

The research team, led by Dr. Nicolas Christou, director of bariatric surgery and professor of surgery at McGill, looked at data from 1,035 patients who had bariatric surgery from the mid-‘80s to 2002 and 5,746 obese patients who did not have surgery. The participants were matched by age, gender and the length of time they’d had a diagnosis of morbid obesity. None of them had previously been diagnosed with cancer.

"Weight loss through weight-loss surgery, if you are extremely obese, is extremely beneficial both to your health as well as to your quality of life," said Christou in a telephone interview with Reuters.

Other experts, such as Dr. Edward H. Phillips, a bariatric surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, are skeptical of the results. He told LA Times that cancer takes a long time to develop and the patients should have been followed up for more years to yield actual results.

A study released in late May revealed that rates of childhood obesity in the U.S. appear to have leveled off after a 25-year increase. Researchers found that 16.3 percent of children were obese and that 11.3 percent of them were considered extremely obese. They also found 15.6 percent of children were overweight, which means about 32 of children, or 23 million, are overweight or obese.