New research claims that female bariatric surgery patients are reaping more than just the physical health-related benefits of weight loss.

The study examined 106 women who had undergone bariatric surgery, tracking their progress since 2005. Women who lost an average of about 65% of their original body weight within the first two years following surgery were asked to fill out surveys about their sex lives and their blood was taken to test hormone levels.

Not only did they report better sexual functioning, blood tests showed they had an improvement in reproductive hormone levels:
Two years after the surgery, women said they had improvements in their overall sexual functioning, and improvements in arousal, lubrication, desires and satisfaction.

They also said they had better quality of life in most categories, better body image and fewer depressive symptoms just one year out of surgery, with the positive changes persisting through the second year.
Of course, it would be too simplistic to assume that shrinking your stomach through invasive surgery would automatically boost your libido. And given that the study only involved caucasian females, it doesn't take into account that different ethnic groups have different opinions of body weight, which means the study completely ignored account statistical bias based on ethnicity.

[CBS News] image via