Now researchers in Utah have found that the health benefits may go far beyond an extreme change on the scale.

Their study, just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, included more than 11-hundred severely obese patients. 418 of them had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the gold standard procedure. The remaining patients were divided into 2 control groups.

Almost 80 percent all of those patients who had gastric bypass surgery at six years had been able to maintain a very significant degree of weight-loss.

But even better, diabetes rates, hypertension and cholesterol levels had all significantly improved when compared to the control groups. New cases of diabetes among patients who had gastric bypass surgery was significantly lower when compared to the controls.

Researchers say these findings are important given the rising number of gastric by-pass surgeries being performed and the continuing obesity problem in the U.S.

I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the news doctors are reading, health news that matters to you.