If you are obese and have diabetes, losing weight can help improve your blood glucose control and lower your risk of diabetic complications. A recent report suggests that bariatric surgery may help those patients with diabetes who have not been able to lose weight through diet and exercise.
Bariatric surgery for the treatment of obesity is a tempting option for some people with type 2 diabetes, since weight control is crucial for managing diabetes. Now, the first formal study of its kind suggests that laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (lap-band) surgery may be effective for certain patients with diabetes. The study was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Volume 299, page 341).
Australian researchers randomized 60 obese participants (body mass index [BMI] between 30 and 40) recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes to either a conventional weight loss plan of diet, exercise, and medication or lap-band surgery, which helps control appetite by slowing the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract.
After two years, diabetes remission was achieved in 73% of the lap-band participants compared with 13% of those in the conventional weight loss group. Average weight loss was 21% in the surgery group versus less than 2% in the conventional weight loss group.
It's worth noting that all of the subjects had relatively mild cases of diabetes, so it's still not clear whether obesity surgery is effective for people with advanced diabetes. The American Diabetes Association does not yet emphasize bariatric surgery as a major treatment option for type 2 diabetes, but that opinion may change with more results like this.
