Home
- Eating Well (or at Least Not terribly) at Fast Food Resturants
You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
See if you qualify for our free healthcare professional magazines. Click here to start your application for Pre-Diabetes Health, Diabetes Health Pharmacist and Diabetes Health Professional.
Latest Complementary Therapies Articles
Popular Complementary Therapies Articles
Highly Recommended Complementary Therapies Articles
Email to a Friend
Send a link to this page to your friends and colleagues.
Gastric Bypass Surgery Could Be Key to Reversing Diabetes in Non-Obese Patients
Part of Rubino’s theory that non-obese type 2s can benefit from the surgery is based on his observation that post-operative diabetes remissions happen far more rapidly than could be accounted for by the weight loss that the surgery is designed to induce.
A controversial New York doctor is poised to begin surgical trials on non-obese diabetes patients in an attempt to reverse their disease with gastric bypass surgery. Dr. Francesco Rubino, the chief of gastrointestinal surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, believes that because gastric surgery has been shown to be highly effective in remitting diabetes symptoms, the procedure should now be allowed among non-overweight type 2s.
Rubino has long touted the beneficial side effect of diabetes remission in obese type 2 patients who have undergone the surgery as a last-ditch attempt to shed weight. Until now, the surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach and thereby lessens appetite, has been recommended only for patients with a body mass index of 35 or more. (A BMI of 35 or more, which factors in weight versus height and sex, is considered obese. People of normal weight for their height and sex usually have BMIs in the low to mid 20s.)
Rubino, who has been doing gastric bypass surgery since 1999, noticed early on that most of his obese patients who also had type 2 diabetes experienced an almost instant remission in their diabetes symptoms after the surgery. (Other doctors through the years have noticed the same effect. Although there is no exact percentage of remissions reported for post-gastric surgery type 2s, the most conservative number reported is 80 percent.)
Part of Rubino's theory that non-obese type 2s can benefit from the surgery is based on his observation that post-operative diabetes remissions happen far more rapidly than could be accounted for by the weight loss that the surgery is designed to induce. He reasons that excess weight alone, in the form of visceral "belly" fat, is not enough to explain the origin of type 2 diabetes. Instead, he thinks that the disease's origin is in the gut, most likely the upper digestive tract, and that gastric bypass surgery somehow short-circuits the malfunctioning digestive process that leads to diabetes.
Recently Rubino has become more outspoken about removing the restriction that limits the surgery to obese patients, saying that it should become a more routine procedure that doctors should be free to offer their type 2 patients, especially those who have been unable to control the disease despite careful diet, regular exercise, and drugs.
Why the Controversy?
Despite the statistical evidence that gastric bypass surgery has a powerful effect on type 2 diabetes, Rubino's campaign to make it more freely available has stirred controversy. That controversy centers on several concerns and objections:
- The long-term effects of diabetes remission are unknown. Even if the effect in permanent, what are the possible ill effects or drawbacks years down the road?
- There's a related worry that gastric bypass surgery could become so routine that it becomes dangerously overprescribed, much like lobotomy was in the mid-20th century, only to wind up being discredited like lobotomy.
- Critics say that Rubino, as a weight-loss surgeon, may be advocating the procedure as a means of increasing his own and his peers' business.
- Critics also dispute the actual beneficial effects of the surgery when before-and-after statistics are scrutinized. One critic at Diabetes Update (see link below) says that the blood glucose figures given as proof of "remission" are way too high to qualify as proof that the disease is under control.
- Some people assert that a much simpler procedure, gastric banding, can produce the same effects as bypass surgery at far less cost and danger to patients. Gastric bands, which are placed at the top of the stomach, are inserted through the esophagus in a non-surgical procedure, often in an outpatient setting. Any subsequent problems can almost always be solved simply by removing the band.
For further reading on this topic, go to these sources:
- New York Daily News article, "Manhattan doc claims gastric bypass surgery can reverse diabetes in non-obese patients"
- Diabetes Update article, "The REAL Truth About Gastric Bypass's Supposed "Cure" of Type 2 Diabetes
- Newsweek article, "Is There a Surgical Cure for Diabetes?"
Categories: Bariatric Surgery, Blood Glucose, Complementary Therapies, Diabetes, Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes, Type 2 Issues
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
-
Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
Comments
I disagree with this idea that bariatric surgery should be performed on non obese patients. I was able to drop over 90 ( I WAS obese at over 280lbs) pounds on a change of eating and lifestyle plan over the past almost 2 years . My diabetes seems to have disappeared and did so after the initial loss of 40 -50 pounds. My A1C went from 11 to 5.1 over the first year of the weight loss. I think that it can be achieved without surgery and that the surgery has so many negative side effects that it should only be considered as a last resort not an instant fix or cure all.
I am a surgeon with diabetes and am considering gastric band as a treatment instead of bypass even though clinical evidence is in favor of bypass. I reviewed papers comparing band vs bypass and weight loss at 5-7 years and it is similar in both groups who are motivated. The only missing link is explanation of remission of diabetes in bypass group.I am glad that the study will be done to see why and how bypass works to "cure" Diabetes.
I think GLP 1 secretion from jejunum is the reason. I wish them good luck.
kd
I disagree with this idea that bariatric surgery should be performed on non obese patients. I was able to drop over 90 ( I WAS obese at over 280lbs) pounds on a change of eating and lifestyle plan over the past almost 2 years . My diabetes seems to have disappeared and did so after the initial loss of 40 -50 pounds. My A1C went from 11 to 5.1 over the first year of the weight loss. I think that it can be achieved without surgery and that the surgery has so many negative side effects that it should only be considered as a last resort not an instant fix or cure all.
The actual gastric band operation involves major surgery and is a very drastic option for any individual to take. The VIRTUAL gastric band offers an effective alternative which involves ZERO risk, it doesn't require a person to change to a liquidized diet and requires no invasive surgery.
The VIRTUAL gastric band uses the power of the mind - Sheila Granger from Beverley, East Yorkshire, England, can hypnotise a person so that the subconcious believes the stomach is the size of a golf ball, therefore allowing a person to consume less food before it feels full - ensuring weight loss at gradual rate allowing and improving skins elasticity. The only thing a person has to lose with the VIRTUAL GASTRIC BAND is their excess weight!
Contacting Sheila Granger, hypnotist, could be the best thing you ever did and at approximately £300 it is considerably cheaper that a £10,000 surgical operation.
Add your comments about this article below. You can add comments as a registered user or anonymously. If you choose to post anonymously your comments will be sent to our moderator for approval before they appear on this page. If you choose to post as a registered user your comments will appear instantly.
When voicing your views via the comment feature, please respect the Diabetes Health community by refraining from comments that could be considered offensive to other people. Diabetes Health reserves the right to remove comments when necessary to maintain the cordial voice of the diabetes community.
For your privacy and protection, we ask that you do not include personal details such as address or telephone number in any comments posted.
Don't have your Diabetes Health Username? Register now and add your comments to all our content.
Register...
Register your Diabetes Health Username here.
Have Your Say...