Obesity Surgery Might Help With Diabetes

There’s a one-two punch when it comes to your health. Obesity and diabetes go hand in hand the way ice cream goes with a sugar cone. Now health professionals are looking at obesity surgery as a way to also help fight diabetes.

Patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care, according to Australian researchers.

Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests.

“It’s the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it’s very low risk,” said Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia, lead author of the study, which involved 55 patients.

The patients that underwent surgery received stomach banding, which is more popular in Australia than in the U.S.

In a sense, the surgery is having the bonus effect of helping with the diabetes that was exacerbated by being overweight.