Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Better for Type 2 Diabetes Patients Than Lifestyle Changes [Study]

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A new published research suggests that people who have type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) experience better treatment outcomes when bariatric weight loss surgery is combined with lifestyle changes than those who only do the latter program alone.

For three years, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical studied 61 type 2 diabetes patients and randomly assigned them into three groups. Their findings were published in the online journal JAMA Surgery.

The first one went through a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and went on a "low-level" lifestyle changes including improved eating habits and exercise. The second group went through laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, another type of bariatric surgery, and they went on diet and exercise changes. Group three participants did not go through weight loss surgery but were enrolled in an extreme weight loss program and diet and exercise changes similar to the first two groups.

The researchers were able to conclude that more than a third of the first group had full or partial remission as they had lesser reliance on diabetes medication and better glucose control on top of weight loss. Nearly a third of the second group also experienced remission. However, no one in the third group experienced full or partial remission with their T2DM, as reported by UPI.

"Among obese participants with T2DM, bariatric surgery with 2 years of an adjunctive low-level lifestyle intervention resulted in more disease remission than did lifestyle intervention alone," the researchers concluded in their published paper.

According to Reuters, patients with type 2 diabetes are often obese. The American Diabetes Association defines T2DM as having your body being insulin deficient because the body is not producing enough insulin to properly function or when the body is not responding to insulin to use effectively, otherwise known as insulin resistance.

Bariatric surgery is a surgical option for obese adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 and above and/or those with weight-related condition. There are different types of weight loss surgeries for this as well, including gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, adjustable gastric band and duodenal switch, according to WebMD.

The researchers noted that the study will be conducted further on more patients over a longer period of time to be able to know how long the remissions will last.

Speaking with Reuters, Dr. Osama Hamdy, a medical director at the Boston Joslin Diabetes Center Obesity Clinical Program, urged T2DM patients to stay safe and wary as not all bariatric surgery patients in the group went into remission and that newer diabetic lifestyle inventions can be successful.

"Any study like this we need to be very cautious when reading them and read between the lines," he said.