Rubber band’ obesity surgery cuts diabetes risk
Rubber band’ obesity surgery cuts diabetes risk
By Anne Harding Wed May 2, 12:29 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After having "lap band" surgery for weight
loss, men and women show large increases in sensitivity to the
blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin — even if they remain obese — a
new study shows.
"They don’t have to reach their ideal weight in order to make some
pretty significant health improvements," Dr. Joan F. Carroll of the
University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, one of
the study’s authors, told Reuters Health.
Carroll reported the findings this week at the American Physiological
Society’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
In the operation Carroll and her team are investigating, known medically
as laparoscopic gastric banding surgery, an elastic band is placed
around the stomach, restricting the amount of food the stomach can
comfortably hold. Another procedure, surgical gastric bypass, has been
shown to help reduce the body’s resistance to insulin — often a prelude
to full-blown diabetes — before major weight loss has taken place, but
less is known about how lap band surgery affects insulin resistance.
To investigate, Carroll and her team have been following 37 lap band
patients for up to one year. Those followed for six months have lost 23
kilograms (51 pounds), on average, while average weight loss for those
who have been followed for a year is 34 kg (75 pounds).
Their level of insulin resistance had fallen by 60 percent after six
months, she told Reuters Health, even though the patients remained
clinically obese.
Given that resistance to insulin greatly increases the risk of
developing type 2 diabetes, which has a number of other health