According to a recent study, weight loss surgery may offer a promising solution for treating diabetes permanently. Researchers revealed that over 50% of diabetic patients who received metabolic surgery achieved diabetes remission, irrespective of their weight loss amounts.
Metabolic surgery can lead to diabetes remission
University of California-San Francisco, Stony Brook University Medical Center, and Mayo Clinic researchers examined data from 815 patients that had undergone gastric bypass surgery from 2008 to 2017. The study lasted for 14 years and collected patient information annually. Notably, this research tracked patients for an average of seven years, setting a new record for the longest follow-up study of diabetes patients after gastric bypass surgery.
The study found that multiple factors affected diabetes remission in metabolic surgery patients, such as pre-surgery insulin usage, diabetes medication requirements, disease duration, initial HbA1c levels, and weight loss after surgery. Importantly, the research highlighted that diabetes remission wasn’t solely dependent on post-surgery weight loss.
Metabolic surgeon at Mayo Clinic Dr Omar Ghanem said that although gastric bypass surgery is not a magical eight loss pill it does offer an opportunity for most individuals to get rid of diabetes and related complications.
According to American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery president Dr Teresa LaMasters it is important to consider various factors when picking patients for gastric bypass surgery. She explained that currently there is no other therapy that can produce such results and thus physicians and patients need to explore the alternative to see if it’s ideal for them.
The research has the potential to transform diabetes treatment and address related issues like obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Metabolic surgery is a promising solution for diabetes and its complications. Despite its benefits, a very small percentage of eligible individuals undergo weight-loss surgery annually, a number that further decreased due to COVID-19.
Surgical procedures like gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy are highly effective for treating severe obesity. These surgeries result in substantial and enduring weight loss, and they also have positive effects on health conditions like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.