A new study has found that controlling type-2 diabetes in those with obesity is more successful with weight-loss surgery when compared to the use of medications. The findings reveal that five years after weight-loss surgery, obese participants were diabetes-free.
Researchers back in 2009 randomly assigned 20 obese patients with type-2 diabetes to receive medical treatment, another 20 patients received gastric bypass surgery, and an additional 20 received weight-loss surgery called biliopancreatic diversion.
Among those who had surgery, nearly 80 percent saw their glucose levels controlled over the long-term versus only 25 percent who received medication. All participants saw a reduction in heart disease risk, but surgery participants had a greater reduction in heart and blood vessel disease and also required fewer medications to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Weight-loss surgery can be risky. In an alternative international study, although the participants’ diabetes was better controlled for those who received weight-loss surgery, they increased their risk of infection and bone fractures.
Researchers are hesitant to call weight-loss surgery a cure for type-2 diabetes, so they are confident of the results and deem it an effective means for better controlling type-2 diabetes. Researchers are hopeful that their findings may prompt medical insurers to begin covering more weight-loss surgeries as a means to better control type-2 diabetes; many of these companies do not currently cover these types of surgeries, which researchers feel are denying individuals a viable treatment.
It is well known that there is a strong link between obesity and type-2 diabetes. Even though an exact cause of type-2 diabetes is still unknown among those who are obese, their risk of developing type-2 diabetes greatly increases.
A strong relationship can be seen between type-2 diabetes and obesity: 90 percent of individuals with type-2 diabetes are also obese.
Obesity, specifically higher abdominal fat, has been shown as an increased risk to develop type-2 diabetes; abdominal fat leads to inflammation which in turn makes the body more resistant to insulin. Because insulin resistance can go symptomless, individuals may not even know they are pre-diabetic or have diabetes until they go see a doctor for a check-up.
Obesity is commonly measured by a person’s body mass index (BMI) which examines a person’s height and weight. Normal weight has a BMI score of 18.5 to 24.9, overweight has a score of 25 to 29.9, and obesity has a score of 30 or greater. Although BMI is not 100 percent accurate – it does not account for muscle mass – it is a very close indicator of a person’s health and what they may be at risk for in regards to their weight. The risk of type-2 diabetes goes up with a BMI score of 25, so even just being overweight is enough to increase a person’s risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
Type-2 diabetes can easily be prevented with healthy lifestyle habits and is not an illness a person has to develop in their lifetime. Simple ways to lower your risk of diabetes and combat obesity are:
Type-2 diabetes, as well as obesity, are avoidable and not inevitable parts of getting older. Healthy lifestyle habits can better help you prevent type-2 diabetes.
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