Significant Weight Loss Has Same Metabolic Effects On Diabetics From Surgery Or Diet Alone, Study Finds

Gastric bypass surgery has reportedly been considered one of the most effective ways to treat type 2 diabetes in obese people. But a recent study has questioned whether the procedure really has a unique metabolic effect in people with diabetes, or whether weight loss after surgery really causes the beneficial effects in people.

“It has been assumed that gastric bypass surgery has therapeutic and metabolic effects that result in better blood sugar control and even remission of diabetes beyond the expected effects of weight loss alone,” lead researcher Dr Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Washington. , said in the press release provided to Fox News.

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However, Klein’s team of researchers at Washington University St. Louis School of Medicine found in their recent study that it is not necessarily the surgery itself that causes the metabolic improvements, including diabetes remission, but rather the weight loss after surgery that creates this effect. , according to the press release.

“We have found that gastric bypass surgery improves metabolic function by leading to weight loss. There was no difference in the reduction in diabetes medication or in the rate of diabetes remission between patients who had surgery and those who lost equivalent amounts of weight through diet alone.

The research, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, says the team of researchers compared 11 severely obese diabetes patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery with 11 severely obese diabetic patients who lost the same percentage – 18 % – of their body weight from food alone.

Members of both groups had similar metabolic improvements throughout the day, including improved insulin action in the liver, fatty and muscle tissue, lower blood sugar levels, and reduced blood sugar levels. less need for insulin and other diabetes medications, according to the publication. Since the group that lost weight strictly through diet did as well as the surgical group, the researchers concluded that the improvements were due to weight loss rather than physiological changes caused by the surgery. herself.

“It has been suggested that the weight loss induced by gastric bypass surgery is different from the weight loss induced by a low calorie diet, based on the fact that certain factors – such as increased bile acid concentrations , decreased branched-chain amino acid concentrations and alterations in the gut microbiome – are different in operated patients and may be responsible for the unique therapeutic effects of gastric bypass surgery, ”Klein said in the press release .

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Although these factors were different after weight loss in surgical patients compared to non-surgical patients, “these changes were not associated with any physiologically or clinically important metabolic benefit,” said the study’s lead author. in the press release.

Klein, however, raised the question that “losing 18 percent of your body weight with diet therapy alone is extremely difficult and unrealistic for most obese people.”

“In contrast, gastric bypass surgery leads to marked and sustained long-term weight loss, making it a potent therapy for people with diabetes,” added Klein, the head of the Geriatrics and Physicians Division. nutritional science.