Going under the knife to lose weight can increase income, leaving patients slimmer and better off, official data suggests.
An analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that men who underwent bariatric surgery experienced a huge pay rise of £200 a month, on average, five years after the operation.
Women had more modest financial benefits, earning just £55 more a month.
Both men and women were also more likely to be employed overall, with a four percentage point increase in having a job after losing their love handles.
The ONS analysis suggested the results were probably because those who had weight-loss surgery were fit enough to find work rather than being paid more by their bosses.
An analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that Britons in England who underwent bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass, on the NHS saw a significant increase in their paychecks five years after the operation.
Salary peaked at £84 five years after going under the knife, but results started much earlier, with an average increase of £3.50 in monthly salary recorded starting in the sixth month and rising from there.
Brits who had the operations earned more and were also more likely to be employed overall, with a 4.3 percentage point increase in having a job after losing their love handles.
He highlighted how a subsection of the study, which only looked at Brits who had surgery while already in paid employment, saw a much smaller pay rise in the same period, taking home just an extra £17 a month.
ONS analysts also found that monthly wages fell immediately after the surgery, falling by an average of £117.
This is presumably because people were unable to work during the four to six months of recovery.
Overall, when figures for men and women were combined, people improved by £84 five years after undergoing weight loss operations.
The ONS analysis was based on more than 40,000 Britons who underwent bariatric surgery on the NHS between April 2014 and December 2022.
Bariatric surgery, commonly known as weight loss surgery, consists of a variety of potential procedures including gastric sleeves, gastric bypass, and gastric banding. This illustrated example shows a gastric bypass.
Bariatric surgery, commonly known as weight loss surgery, consists of a variety of potential procedures.
These include gastric sleeve, gastric bypass or gastric band procedures.
While they all differ slightly, the basic principle is that they alter the shape of the stomach, either by cutting out sections of the organ or by squeezing it with an artificial material.
The end result is that the stomach becomes smaller, making the person feel fuller sooner.
This helps them reduce the amount they eat and, by extension, lose weight.
It should not be confused with liposuction, a primarily cosmetic operation that removes fat from parts of the body but does not help people lose weight in the future.
Bariatric surgery is only available on the NHS for severely obese Britons, typically those with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher.
These patients must also have tried to lose weight through diet, exercise, and medications before being eligible.
Bariatric surgery is available privately for patients who do not meet these criteria, but such operations can cost around £15,000 depending on the specific type.
There has been growing concern that patients who are not eligible for the NHS operation are seeking cheaper alternatives abroad, with sometimes disastrous consequences.
Around 5,000 people a year travel abroad for obesity surgery, but BritonsSurgeons have repeatedly warned National Health Service is being left to “pick up the pieces.”
They say many patients return with serious infections as a result of the low standards of some foreign clinics.
Treating these preventable cases is causing delays in routine care, such as hip and knee replacements, as they take up limited hospital beds and surgical capacity.
Bariatric surgery, like any major operation, comes with a number of potential complications.
These include standard complications such as blood clots and infections, but also unique complications such as a blocked intestine or stomach contents leaking into the rest of the body.
The ONS analysis comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has taken a keen interest in tackling the country’s obesity epidemic to get overweight Britons back to work.
However, these controversial plans do not involve surgery; Instead, health secretary Wes Streeting has proposed using fat-busting injections similar to Ozempic as a pharmaceutical solution to help ease the burden on the NHS and boost the economy.
Weight-related illnesses cost the economy £74 billion a year, and overweight people are at higher risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
However, NHS bosses have privately warned that the plan risks overwhelming a service already stretched to breaking point.