A new research has suggested that gastric bypass surgery can help lower cholesterol level and improve the proportion of total cholesterol to HDL (good) cholesterol.

The research showed that within six months of gastric bypass, nearly all patients with HDL had normal blood cholesterol levels and 91% of sufferers who were on statins or other lipid-lowering drugs before surgical operation no longer required them.

Even after six years, all sufferers were off medication. Patients, who before surgery had an average body mass index (BMI) of 50, lost nearly 40 percent of their body mass index or 80 percent of their excess body weight.

Researchers at University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics followed 248 laparoscopic gastric bypass patients for six years.

Around 94 had hyperlipidemia, an elevation of lipids (fats) including cholesterol and triglycerides in the bloodstream, and 23 were being treated with lipid-lowering medications. Hyperlipidemia is a risk factor for coronary artery disease.

Mohammad Jamal, lead study author and clinical assistant professor at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, said, "Patients with morbid obesity experience resolution of hyperlipidemia in a very short period of time following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, further reducing the risk of developing heart disease in this high-risk population."

"Bariatric surgery seems to give patients the jumpstart they need to maintain enough weight loss over the long term to keep hyperlipidemia at bay," Jamal added.

The results of the research have been released during the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). (With Inputs from Agencies)