Doctors have been studying the effects of metabolic surgery on Type 2 diabetes patients for years and the latest study concludes these surgeries help put diabetes in remission better than lifestyle changes or medication.
What is metabolic surgery?
Metabolic surgery, also called bariatric surgery, are procedures that help people lose weight.
The two most common ones are Gastric Bypass and Bilio-pancreatic diversion.
The difference in these surgeries and surgeries used strictly for weight control is a doctor
recommends the surgery for the expressed reason of controlling diabetes.
More than 34.2 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Weight plays a role in the blood sugar disease with around 90 percent of Type 2 diabetes patients being either overweight or obese.
The Study
Pennington Biomedical Research Center just published a study in the journal Diabetes Care that included 316 Type 2 diabetes patients. It’s the largest study on metabolic surgery and its effects on diabetes to date.
Only 2.6% of diabetic patients who exercised, at healthy meals, self-monitored and took the newest and best medications available were able to put their disease into remission during the study period. Compare that with 37.5% of those who had metabolic surgery. That is the number of those achieving lasting remission when evaluated three years after surgery.
Those who got surgeries required fewer medications too.
The Problem
The problem, according to doctors, is most health insurance companies refuse to pay for these surgeries
despite the results. Less than 1% of those eligible for these surgeries get them. Concerns about safety and long-term results also play a role in eligible patients failing to get the surgery, doctors said.
Conclusion
Diabetic patients should ask their doctors about whether they are eligible for this type of surgery and whether it is covered by insurance. It could be the procedure that puts your Type 2 diabetes into remission and
reduces the medications you take.
