Gastric band 'doubles as cure for type 2 diabetes'

Weight-loss surgery used to treat obesity may hold the potential to cure the onset of type 2 diabetes, according to new gastrointestinal findings.

A clinical study conducted in the UK suggests that adjustable gastric banding surgery could help obese patients with type 2 diabetes improve blood glucose control.

Co-authored by gastrointestinal expert Paul Super, the report indicated that more than a third of patients with diabetes and a BMI of 35 lost 35 per cent of their excess body weight as a result of gastric band surgery and went into remission from diabetes within 12 months of the procedure.

Also, more than three quarters of patients with a BMI of between 30 and 40 became symptom free after undergoing the surgery.

Previous studies have shown that significant weight loss is an integral part of diabetes management.

Mr Super explained: "The lifestyle and medical interventions typically used to treat diabetic patients only result in modest weight loss. This is because diabetics find it much harder to lose with than other people and, the heavier they are, the more difficult it is to control their condition because obesity triggers insulin resistance.

"As a result diabetic patients require increasing quantities of insulin to keep their blood sugar levels under control."

Results have found that gastric band surgery patients tend to lose around 60 per cent of their excess body weight within 18 months on average.

Gastric band surgery is the most popular form of weight-loss surgery with up to 300,000 band placement performed to date worldwide and a mortality rate of 0.05 per cent.