Weight loss surgery helps obese diabetics

Weight loss surgery may have better outcome than the standard medical treatment for patients with severe type 2 diabetes who are obese, researchers say. The new international study published in The New England Journal of Medicine followed 60 severely obese diabetic patients for two years. One-third of the patients were treated with diabetes drugs, diet and other healthy lifestyle choices while the others underwent one of the two common stomach-reducing operations. After 24 months, most of the patients who underwent bariatric surgery not only experienced a considerable weight loss but also showed significant improvements in blood sugar control while only 12 percent of patients on standard therapy achieved such a blood sugar control. The majority of weight loss surgery patients did not need diabetes drugs anymore and showed complete remission while none of those in the standard therapy group experienced such a significant improvement. “Although bariatric surgery was initially conceived as a treatment for weight loss, it is now clear that surgery is an excellent approach for the treatment of diabetes and metabolic disease,” concluded senior author Dr. Francesco Rubino of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Weill Cornell Medical College. “The unique ability of surgery to improve blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels as well as reduce weight makes it an ideal approach for obese patients with type 2 diabetes,” added lead researcher Dr. Geltrude Mingrone of the Catholic University, Rome. Surgeries carried more risks than medical therapy and a small number of patients experienced non-life threatening complications that needed further surgery. Scientists say more research is needed to study the long-term effects of weight loss surgeries on diabetes management.