Liposuction may only offer a rearranging of excess fat, according new research published in online in the journal Obesity this week.
Drs. Teri L. Hernandez and Robert H. Eckel of the University of Colorado, Denver, and colleagues, noted that there were no randomized studies of liposuction patients focusing on whether or not removed fat came back.
Their study was a randomized controlled trial of liposuction in 43 non-obese healthy female volunteers with disproportionate body fat distribution (defined as presenting mostly in the lower abdomen, hips and thighs).
The women's body composition was measured at the beginning of the study, and they were split into two groups-one that underwent small-volume liposuction within 2-4 weeks, and the other (the control group) that was offered liposuction after the study was completed.
Measurements were taken again six weeks, six months and 12 months after the initial set. The women were told to not make any lifestyle changes (such as diet or exercise) during the course of the study.
After comparing measurements, the researchers concluded that body fat removed during the procedure "was restored and redistributed from the thigh to the abdomen."
Eckel told the press that the fat was "redistributed upstairs," mostly in the upper abdomen, but also in the shoulders and upper arms, according to a report in the New York Times.
More than half of the women in the control group chose to have the liposuction surgery after the study, despite knowing what the results would be.
Obesity experts theorize that the human body "defends" its fat--if you try to lose it, it will find a way back. Their explanation for the redistribution is that liposuction destroys the infrastructure that holds fat in place in the body, so it is forced to find somewhere else to relocate.
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