Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery and Diabetes - Does it Help?
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery has been in the news a lot lately, mainly because it has the potential to help with diabetes in some patients. I am reluctant to use the word “cure” at this point, like a lot of bariatric surgery websites have been doing. But this particular type of bypass surgery does seem to at least reduce diabetes in some patients.
The question most people want to know is: What’s the connection between Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and diabetes, in the first place? How do these procedures reduce the severity of diabetes in certain patients?
Health Benefits of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
From everything I have read thus far, there seems to be three specific health benefits for diabetic patients:
The most obvious benefit (and the primary purpose of the gastric bypass surgery) is the caloric reduction that takes place following the procedure. Patients who undergo a gastric bypass will have a smaller usable stomach area. In other words, they will have a reduced capacity for food intake. This results in fewer calories consumed. According to research, this can help stabilize the levels of blood sugar, which in turn can help keep diabetes under control.
Most patients who undergo Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery also lose a certain amount of weight. These results very from one patient to another, but in some cases the weight loss can be pretty significant. It is well known that weight loss can help with insulin resistance, which is another way these surgeries help with diabetes.
There are also some documented hormonal changes in patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery, and this is thought to have a positive impact on diabetes patients. But there is less documentation supporting this claim, so I’m not comfortable reporting it here.
The primary benefits (and the most well-documented benefits) are the first two listed above. Patients who undergo Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for weight loss generally reduce their caloric intake, improve their blood sugar levels, and improve their insulin resistance. That is why such procedures can help get diabetes under control.
Gastric Bypass | Senior Editor | 
November 5, 2009 12:51 pm