Lose the fat; Lose the diabetes
It has been known for over 30 years that type II Diabetes Mellitus was associated with obesity. It has also been shown that folks who lose weight through exercise can decrease or eliminate their insulin requirements. I heard a presentation over 10 years ago by Walter Pories, former Chairman of Surgery at East Carolina University School of Medicine, that obesity surgery decreased and eliminated in some patients the need for insulin. It was a great presentation.
Now, I read some else has done this exact same study and the study has made it into the lay press. AP has picked up the study. There are now several studies which all show the same result and it makes sense. In morbidly obese patients losing weight is a good thing.
Let me add a disclaimer - I’m a surgeon. I don’t do this operation. No operation is without risk. The risks and benefits of this procedure need to be weighted with your surgeon.
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From AP:
A new study gives the strongest evidence yet that obesity surgery can cure 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. (more…)
Yes, it’s interesting how something can be discovered, reported in the news, etc., and years later, it’s “rediscovered”, reported in the news again, etc. We’ve seen this happen before.
As for the benefits of stomach reduction surgery, the thing it achieves, less absorption of food, can be accomplished by eating fewer carbohydrates and fat. That, plus exercise, is the best approach, but of course many people prefer not to do these things.
Also, this surgery isn’t removing any fat cells–it’s reducing their size by calorie restriction. I wonder what the effect of removing some fat cells would have on diabetes, if a person continued with the same eating patterns and lack of exercise–would it make it better or worse? With fewer fat cells to “soak up” the sugar (yes, I know that’s a simplification) going through someone’s bloodstream after eating, would the extra sugar in the blood do more damage? Or would fewer fat cells cause a better insulin response?
This is old news. Read anything by McDougal, Furhman, Ornish, etc. and you will see that those that have lost weight through plant based diets have been able to completely get off diabetes meds and insulin, or at least have them significantly reduced. Even those that have been diabetic for many years.
John -
Thanks for your comments.
Liposuction doesn’t seem to have any significant effect on diabetes.
I’m not sure what you mean by extra sugar and fat cells. The problem in DM type 2 is insulin resistance.
Silvia -
I totally agree. I mentioned that I first heard about this process 10 years ago.
Thanks for your comments.
Thanks Errington, for the reminder about diabetes mellitus type 2 and insulin resistance. I should try harder to remember the difference, since I’ve got it myself–it runs on my Dad’s side of the family.
I’ve just read that there’s at least one practical reason for insulin resistance in the overweight– to keep a person from getting even fatter, by reducing the amount of fat that gets stored in those fat cells. I think I was thinking along those lines when I wondered if fewer fat cells might mean less diabetes. I should point out though, that it’s not only the obese who get diabetes–even people who aren’t overweight can get it, such as myself–I’m pretty thin, and when I signed up at my local gym, they measured my body fat index, and found it to be the lowest they’d ever seen. The guy taking the measurement was puzzled and didn’t believe what his instrument was telling him at first. Since then, I’ve developed something of a belly (while my arms, etc. have no more fat on them than they’ve ever had), and since the bigger belly started, my diabetes has been getting worse, which may reinforce the idea that belly fat is one of the key troublemakers in diabetes.
Interesting that liposuction has no impact on diabetes. This seems to reinforce the idea that it’s the number of calories one absorbs, or at least non-complex carbohydrates, that has the biggest impact on DM2.
Silvia: I could see how even a plant-based diet could trigger/aggravate diabetes, if one were to eat too many simple plant carbohydrates. One of the most important things is to reduce their intake, no matter what their source. Has it been found that even high-protein, low-fat meat diets aggravate diabetes?
Sylvia:
Found it:
Red meat and diabetes linked:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FKA/is_12_66/ai_n7576823
Since most (all?) meat has very little carbohydrates, that can’t be the problem with meat consumption. I’m sure the reason is probably known, but I’ll have to find out later when I’m less busy.