Gastric Bypass And Treating Diabetes

****** Bariatric surgery might be more effective than lifestyle changes at reversing type 2 diabetes-even for the moderately obese. A recent year-long study from the University of Washington in Seattle suggested that the Body Mass Index (BMI) requirements for bariatric surgery could be lowered to as much as 30 for type 2 diabetes patients. The study authors found that healthy lifestyle changes, including exercise and dieting, were drastically less effective than bariatric surgery for reversing the disease. This year-long study included type 2 diabetes patients aged 25 to 64 with a BMI of 30 to 45. Fifteen study subjects underwent a surgery called Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), while 17 patients adopted lifestyle changes. The lifestyle patients exercised for 45 minutes five days a week, ate a strict low-sugar diet while being monitored by a nutritionist and took the ideal medicine for their condition.

I'm Shelby Cullinan with today's health news. Bariatric surgery might be more effective than lifestyle changes at reversing type 2 diabetes-even for the moderately obese. A recent year-long study from the University of Washington in Seattle suggested that the BMI requirements for bariatric surgery could be lowered to as much as 30 for type 2 diabetes patients. The study authors found that healthy lifestyle changes, including exercise and dieting, were drastically less effective than bariatric surgery for reversing the disease. At the end of the study, the surgery patients lost about 26 percent of their weight, while the lifestyle patients lost about 6 percent of their weight. The lifestyle group did increase in exercise capacity by 22 percent, while the surgery group did not. However, when it came to achieving the study goal of reversing type 2 diabetes, only 6 percent of lifestyle patients succeeded compared to 60 percent of surgery patients. According to the research team, this study could mean that bariatric surgery could have uses beyond weight loss. For dailyRx, I'm Shelby Cullinan.