Bariatric surgery
THE CURE FOR DIABETES (PT 2)
IN MY last article, I spoke about the difference between obesity and overweight, as well as the advantages that bariatric surgery has over traditional lifestyle change. Obesity is a complex disease characterised by hormonal and metabolic changes that place the individual at increased risk of developing lifestyle diseases and resists meaningful attempts at weight loss.
In other words, the treatment for overweight is lifestyle changes resulting in calories consumed being less than calories burnt. The obesity epidemic, on the other hand, cannot be successfully addressed with the current approach of preaching lifestyle changes and needs to be tackled more with the best tool we have available, bariatric surgery.
When bariatric surgery was conceptualised, the main objective was weight loss. However, when observing patients post-operatively, unbelievable results were noticed with their medical conditions.
Many persons with high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes saw improvement in their health. Diabetes in particular was shown to be cured in up to 75 per cent of cases after gastric bypass. The results were seen long before the patient lost significant weight. This could not be explained by simply decreased insulin resistance as they lost fat.
Further research has revealed that with bariatric surgery, there are significant hormonal changes in the gut and the body. These result in more insulin released into the blood and hence, better regulation of blood sugar levels. Other theories, such as a change in the gut bacteria and changes in where gut cells get glucose, attempt to explain the observations.