ARTICLE - GASTRIC BYPASS 'BEST FOR DIABETES WEIGHT LOSS'

Gastric bypass 'best for diabetes weight loss'

5 January, 2012 | By The Press Association

Although not a type 2 diabetes cure, gastric bypass weight-loss surgery can help people better control their blood sugar, a study suggests.

Some researchers have argued that as many 80% of people with diabetes who receive a gastric bypass procedure go on to be rid of the disease.
However a study at Imperial College London, which was said to have used stricter test criteria, found that the rate of remission was closer to 40%.
Many people with diabetes who get stomach surgery to reduce their weight have discovered their condition has got better, some even before they had lost the weight.
The disease is typically treated with insulin and drugs to control blood sugar.
The study in London reviewed data on 209 people who have type 2 diabetes to try to establish the most effective type of weight-loss surgery and concluded that gastric bypass caused the best rate of remission, 41%.
Carel le Roux, at Imperial College London’s medicine department, said: “”Using the new criteria we don’t get such eye-catching figures as some that have been quoted in recent years. But it’s clear that weight-loss surgery, particularly gastric bypass, has a significant beneficial effect on glucose control.”
Meanwhile, specialists in the US recently agreed to define “complete remission” as the condition of returning to normal glucose metabolism under no medication for at least a year after surgery.

• Pournaras DL, et al. Effect of the definition of type II diabetes remission in the evaluation of bariatric surgery for metabolic disorders. BJS 2011; Advance online publication