Bypass’s Big Boon
Scientists spot key players in surgery’s surprising ability to reverse diabetes
By Nathan Seppa
Just in time to combat the obesity epidemic sweeping the United States, a surgery called gastric bypass is riding a host of molecular and clinical findings to emerge as the preferred operation for severely overweight people. There is no shortage of patients; fully one-third of U.S. adults are now obese.
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Gastric bypass has gained popularity in part because it takes the pounds off. The operation leaves the stomach smaller, meaning a patient gets full faster, eats less and loses weight at a steady pace. Other common obesity surgeries have those effects too, but gastric bypass also reverses type 2 diabetes in most people, an outcome that bordered on alchemy when first noticed years ago.
New research clarifies the molecular players that make this medical sleight of hand possible, as well as revealing other potential payoffs of the digestive changes — less heart disease, fewer breathing problems and lower blood pressure.