WEDNESDAY, Dec. 31, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Gastric bypass surgery has become a popular option for obese people who want to shed pounds quickly, but researchers say diabetics also have something to gain from the procedure.
They have found the surgery controls type 2 diabetes, even when the patient is not obese, according to a report in the January issue of the Annals of Surgery.
Doctors have known since 1982 that gastric bypass surgery has had an anti-diabetic effect on obese patients, but they weren't sure whether the disease was being controlled by the surgery itself or by the weight loss that followed the surgery.
Gastric bypass surgery reduces the stomach's capacity to 1/20th of its original size and shortens the small intestine to lower the amount of calories absorbed during digestion.
The article's authors, French researchers Dr. Francesco Rubino and Dr. Jacques Marescaux, performed the surgery in non-obese rats with naturally occurring diabetes. They found the rats' glucose levels returned to normal following surgery, compared with rats who did not have bypass surgery and whose diabetes worsened.
Diabetes currently affects more than 150 million people worldwide, and more than 90 percent of people with the disease have the type 2 form. In that form, the pancreas produces enough insulin but for unknown reasons the body can't use the insulin.
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