Having a gastric bypass can banish Type 2 diabetes, study finds

Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes can be halted for years by gastric bypass surgery, a study has found.

In a new trial, three quarters of obese diabetic patients who underwent the procedure went into remission within one year.

Long-term follow-up showed that 73% of the remission patients remained free of diabetes after five years.

Participants included 1,111 people with Type 2 diabetes treated for obesity with a gastric bypass in Denmark between 2006 and 2015.

They underwent a weight loss procedure called Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) which reduces the upper stomach to a small pouch the size of an egg.

These patients were compared with another group of more than 1,000 diabetics who did not receive a gastric bypass.

During the first six months after surgery, 65% of the RYGB patients went into remission, rising to 74% at six to 12 months.

Readmission to hospital due to complications in the first month after surgery occurred in 7.5% of patients.

The scientists led by Dr Lene Madsen, from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, wrote in the journal Diabetologia: “The findings from this study add to the growing body of evidence on effects of bariatric surgery, specifying that RYGB does cause remission of Type 2 diabetes and is associated with a reduced risk of microvascular, and possibly macrovascular complications.”