Gastric bypass surgery was originally devised to cause weight loss in cases of extreme obesity. However, it has recently come to be known as a last resort measure for controlling Type 2 diabetes in obese patients. To read up on this phenomenon, you need look no further than this very site. Here's a previous blog on this topic by yours truly, one that touches on the horrible complications that some have to endure after the surgery. Then here's a more recent one about a Welsh study on the incredible efficacy of the surgery, this time courtesy of Bev.

Now I see a new report circulating in the news. This one focuses on some doctors and their patients who have experienced first-hand how well the gastric bypass can work at making Type 2 diabetes disappear. The piece profiles (among others) truck parts salesman and Type 2 diabetic Adrian Scolari, who weighed 360 pounds and became an insulin-dependent diabetic. Upon having the surgery, says Scolari, his blood sugar levels immediately returned to normal. "I'd have to say it's like a miracle," Scolari exclaims. Bariatric surgeon Nestor De La Cruz Munoz says a gastric bypass can completely rid patients of Type 2 diabetes in a majority of cases. Munoz says, (and Bev talked about this in her blog on this topic too), it appears to be successful because shrinking the stomach's size and rerouting the small intestine affects the production of GLP1 hormone. Result? Instantly normalized blood sugar levels. Obvious next question: can this technique be applied to non-obese patients with Type 2 diabetes? I will look forward to hearing more about this.

Should you want to read more about gastric bypass surgery, WebMD has a good summary of what the procedure involves.

Gastric bypass surgery has a miraculous effect on 80 percent of recipients also suffering from type 2 diabetes. Within two or three days after surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs and small intestines, their type 2 diabetes disappears. Poof ... just like that. Mysteriously, it occurs before any weight loss. This is striking, considering type 2 diabetes develops in 95 percent of morbidly obese people.

A research team at Swansea University in Wales is on the hunt to find out why. They are focusing on a protein, Glucagon Like Peptide (GLP-1), which is produced in the small intestine. Dr. Stephens from the research team explains that overweight people with type 2 tend to have lower levels of GLP-1, and the research is measuring whether GLP-1 levels return to normal following bariatric surgery. The researchers want to know if the surgery restores the production of GLP-1, and if so, why.

Dr. Stephens believes their efforts will not only help medicine understand how type 2 diabetes develops in overweight people, it can also provide new evidence for the development of a non-surgical treatment. Read more at News Medical-Net.