The women were smiling and laughing as they exchanged greetings and shared experiences with bariatric surgery at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.

Their faces glowed with confidence. They felt healthy and alive.

Shelly Prestridge, 33, Tanysha Mayfield, also 33, and Stephanie Sessoms, 36, sat next to each other recalling their bariatric procedures as well as life before and after the weight loss surgery.

Weight-loss surgery can sometimes reverse type 2 diabetes and ease other obesity-related conditions. Now, new research suggests that obese women who undergo bariatric surgery experience a 42 percent drop in their cancer risk.

Dr. David L. Greenburg of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC and colleagues analyzed a dozen studies involving 342 patients who underwent weight loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery.

Obesity is one of the greatest health-care challenges of the 21st century. It ranks second to only tobacco as cause of death in the United States and is a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis and sleep issues.

Weight-loss surgery could help women – but not men – reduce their risk of cancer, research suggests.

Obesity is known to increase the risk of many types of cancer, but it was unclear whether surgery to address the problem also cut the risk of cancer.

Now a Swedish study, published in Lancet Oncology, has shown that weight-loss surgery is associated with a 42% reduction in cancer levels in women.