Weight loss surgery can slash diabetes risk by 80 pc

A new study has revealed that weight loss surgery can help beat diabetes, by slashing the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by a massive 80 per cent in the obese.

Martin Gulliford, professor of public health at King's College London, said that their results suggest that bariatric surgery may be a highly effective method of preventing the onset of new diabetes in men and women with severe obesity, the Daily Express reported.

Gulliford added that people need to understand how weight loss surgery can be used, together with interventions to increase physical activity and promote healthy eating, as part of an overall diabetes prevention strategy.

The new research used electronic health records to assess the effect of contemporary surgical weight loss procedures on the development of diabetes and identified 2,167 obese adults without diabetes who underwent one of three surgical procedures - a gastric band, sleeve or bypass - for weight loss from 2002 onwards.

They were compared with 2,167 controls matched for age, sex, BMI, and blood glucose control who did not have surgery or other obesity treatments and then were followed up for a maximum of seven years, during which time, 38 who had weight loss surgery were newly diagnosed with diabetes, compared with 177 in the control group.

Compared with controls, diabetes incidence was reduced by about 80 per cent in those having surgery, even after controlling for other important factors including smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

The study was published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal.