NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Substantial weight loss after gastric bypass surgery is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), according to a report in the American Journal of Cardiology.

"Weight loss should stabilize the CHD process and reduce heart attacks and other events," Dr. Peter A. McCullough told Reuters Health. "Obese patients with CHD -- which is virtually all patients with this problem -- should consider weight loss to reduce their chances of another CHD event."

McCullough, from William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, and his associates evaluated body mass index (BMI), CHD risk factors, and Framingham risk scores for 109 seriously obese patients before and after they underwent gastric bypass surgery.

After an average weight loss of 36 kilograms or almost 80 pounds and an average reduction in BMI of 12 points, men and women in the study experienced significant decreases in total cholesterol, LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and triglycerides, as well as increases in HDL ("good") cholesterol, the team reports.

Blood pressures also declined significantly after weight loss, the report indicates.

Based on Framingham risk scores, the odds of having a heart attack or other heart-related event within 10 years decreased by 39 percent in men and 25 percent in women, the researchers found.

"Our study is the first to quantify a global decrease in CHD risk after substantial and sustained weight loss secondary to bariatric surgery," the investigators conclude. Bariatric or weight-loss surgery led to "significant improvement in multiple risk factors," they note.

"Bariatric surgery may become a method to reduce CHD events in obese patients at risk," McCullough commented.

His team is planning a trial comparing "bariatric surgery versus a diet approach, with the outcomes being CHD events over 5 years."