Obesity is considered a major risk factor for a long list of chronic diseases. Some of these risk factors are rather well known, including the increased risk for heart disease, type-2 diabetes and arthritis. Along with these chronic diseases it has long been suspected that living with obesity for an extended period of time can increase your risk for certain cancers, though the exact connection to individual types of cancer had not yet been fully established.

Recently, a team of cancer researchers undertook a massive study to look at the link between obesity, diabetes and liver cancer, and their findings were incredibly discouraging for anyone who is struggling with excess weight. The large study found that high body mass index (BMI), increased waist circumference and having type-2 diabetes all increase your risk of developing liver cancer.

All forms of cancer are incredibly damaging to the body, and the current treatment options for addressing the disease are just as taxing in a lot of ways. Liver cancer is the sixth most popular form of cancer in the United States, with incidence of the disease tripling in the last 50 years. It was this parallel growth to the rise in obesity rates in the United States that caught the interest of researchers, who were able to find a direct correlation and ultimately a connection between obesity and the disease.

Obesity is a disease itself, putting a huge tax on the body and increasing your risk for developing a plethora of health concerns. Losing weight can reduce your risk of developing obesity-related diseases, and in some cases, such as with type-2 diabetes, losing weight can actually reverse the onset of health problems.

If you have struggled with obesity for most of your life, simply making a few changes to your diet and starting to exercise more often isn’t going to have as profound of an impact on your weight as you may wish. Weight loss surgery is considered the most successful strategy for those who have a significant amount of weight to lose, and who have not been able to lose weight in the past despite diet and exercise attempts.

Researchers looked at more than 1.5 million participants for this study, a sample that is profound even as cancer research goes. After controlling for other factors that are sometimes connected to cancer risks, such as alcohol consumption, tobacco use, sex, age and race, the team of researchers found that obesity increases an individual’s risk of liver cancer by at least 20 percent. In severe cases of obesity where there is an issue of excessive weight, the risk for liver cancer is increased by just over 140 percent. Specifically, for every two additional inches in waist circumference, the risk of developing liver cancer went up by 8 percent.

Making the choice to lose weight can reduce your risk of all obesity related diseases. To get started on a healthier path talk to your weight loss surgeon.