Weight Loss After Gastric Bypass Is Key to Easing Diabetes (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- Weight loss plays a majorrole in improving diabetes after obese patients have stomach-reductionsurgery, say Duke University Medical Center researchers.

Previous studies have suggested that gastric bypass surgery -- whichre-routes how food is sent from the stomach to the small intestine -- helps improve diabetes by causing changes in the way hormones are secretedfrom the gut and pancreas.

But the metabolic effects shouldn't overshadow the importance of losingweight after surgery, the Duke team said.

"Yes, there are physiologic changes related to the restructuring of thegastrointestinal or GI tract that appear to influence the rapidimprovement in diabetes following gastric bypass. But our study shows thepatients who were able to get off medications completely and go intoremission were the ones who lost the most weight," Dr. Eric DeMaria,director of bariatric surgery at Duke University Medical Center, said inprepared statement.

The more weight patients lost, the higher the likelihood of diabetesimprovement, DeMaria and colleagues found.

They studied 314 obese diabetic patients who had gastric bypasssurgery. Of those patients, 71 had severe diabetes that required insulintherapy because oral medications weren't sufficient to control thedisease.

Overall, gastric bypass surgery had a beneficial effect on diabetes.After 12 months, all the patients were able to reduce the dose or numberof their diabetes-related medications. Of the 71 patients with severediabetes, 48 percent achieved remission of their disease.

Losing weight during the first three weeks to six months after gastricbypass surgery was critical for patients who achieved diabetes remission,DeMaria said.

To achieve long-lasting diabetes improvement following weight-losssurgery, "we need to tell patients to pay attention to their weight and todo things that enhance weight loss. That can only be accomplished bychanging patient behavior and lifestyle," he said.

The study was expected to be presented Wednesday at a meeting of theAmerican Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

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