Obesity surgery significantly reduces the risk of diabetes, even if the patient remains overweight, researchers have found.
Previous studies had already shown that
gastric bypass, a form of obesity surgery, helps to reduce the body's resistance to insulin, which greatly increases the risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
However, a new study by researchers at the University of North Texas has now found that another form of obesity surgery, the
gastric band procedure, also affects insulin resistance.
Gastric band surgery involves placing an elastic band around the stomach, decreasing the size of the organ and therefore limiting the amount of food that can be consumed.
The study, which was presented at the American Physiological Society's annual meeting in Washington DC, involved 37 gastric band patients, whose level of insulin resistance fell by 60 per cent after six months, even though they still remained clinically obese.
Study author Dr Joan Carroll told Reuters Health: "They don't have to reach their ideal weight in order to make some pretty significant health improvements."
Obesity news : 04/05/2007
