Obesity has long been linked to a host of chronic health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Many of these conditions are based on obesity’s effect on our immune system, whereby fat cells are known to release cytokines that influence immune cell behavior. In certain instances, the signals can cause immune cells to malfunction and attack our own bodies.

Now, researchers have shown that even small reductions in a person’s body weight can reverse much of the damage done in the immune cells of obese individuals, especially people suffering from type-2 diabetes.

The reason for this is because extra body fat carried by obese people, particularly abdominal fat, causes what are known as pro-inflammatory immune cells to begin circulating in our bloodstream. These cells can disrupt the delicate balance in our bodies that is necessary for optimally good health.

In the study in question, scientists followed a group of obese individuals who had either type-2 diabetes or were pre-diabetic. They were put on a restricted diet of between 1000 and 1600 calories each day for 24 weeks. After 12 weeks from the initiation of the study, gastric banding was done to help restrict food intake.

The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism, demonstrated that the reduction in caloric intake led to a decrease (by as much as 80%) in pro-inflammatory immune cells in the blood. Pro-inflammatory immune cells include T-helper cells, monocytes, neutrophils and macrophages.

Even modest weight gains of about 12 pounds (6 kilograms) was enough to stabilize the level of circulating immune cells, restoring them to levels that are observed in lean individuals. These cells have been linked to such chronic conditions as coronary heart disease and diabetes.

Interestingly, it was also observed that the amount of weight that a person lost was proportional to the degree to which the immune cells were activated (the activation status). In other words, when a person had more cells activated, they tended to lose less weight. The implications are that inflammation may play a role in influencing the effects of weight loss procedures, including bariatric surgery, perhaps explaining why some people lose weight more easily than others.

This may lead to future insight into ways to help people achieve and maintain a healthy body weight and thereby reduce their risks for chronic conditions linked to obesity.

Obesity is in fact a serious problem in this country, as well as the rest of the world. By some estimates, over 58 million American are overweight, and 40 million of those are obese. In addition to improper diet, it is believed that nearly 80% of the people in this country do not get enough exercise.

The consequences of these circumstances are fairly clear. Obesity and being overweight are believed to play a significant role more than 85% of all diabetes cases and more than 70% of all heart related diseases.

Maintaining a healthy body weight is therefore an important factor in making us look and feel better. If you have questions or concerns about your body weight, talk to your physician. For more information about obesity, visit the website for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)and the Obesity Society.