Type 2 diabetes: is gastric bypass surgery right for people with diabetes?

Researchers at the Capital Medical University in Beijing, China, looked at 101 people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who had decided to undergo a gastric bypass: Roux-en-Y. The goal was to find out which people with diabetes would benefit most from the procedure. Their results were published in the journal Obesity Surgery in February 2019.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass It consists of making a stomach bag from a small portion of the stomach. It then joins the small intestine, thus bypassing a large part of the stomach and duodenum.

After gastric or stomach bypass has been performed, 71 or 70.3 percent achieved remission, having…

• HbA1c levels less than 6.5%,
• fasting blood sugar of less than 100 mg/dL, and
• not need oral antidiabetic drugs for at least a year.

The following characteristics were observed in those who entered remission…

• HbA1c reading less than 7.5 percent,
• a history of having type 2 diabetes for less than 9.5 years,
• a C-peptide reading greater than 1.2 ng/mL, and were
• Not being on insulin treatment.

HbA1c is a measure of sugar in hemoglobin, the molecule that moves oxygen in red blood cells. Each red blood cell carries about 500,000 hemoglobin molecules. Red blood cells last about 120 days, so measuring HbA1c gives us a report of blood sugar levels over the past 3-4 months…

• normal HbA1c levels range from 4 to 5.6 percent.
• In prediabetes, the gray area in which people are prone to developing full-blown type 2 diabetes, HbA1c readings range from 5.7 to 6.4 percent.
• an HbA1c of 6.5 or higher indicates type 2 diabetes.

C-peptide, a short chain of amino acids, it is released when insulin is produced. Measuring it in the blood or urine gives the doctor an idea of ​​how well the beta cells in the pancreas are working. If the pancreas slows down and produces less insulin, insulin may be added to oral medications. According to the study, if stomach bypass surgery is to be performed, it should be done during the first decade, and when the pancreas is still producing a good supply of insulin.

When stomach bypass surgery has been performed, the recovering patient you must follow a dietary plan for the new digestive process to work. The Mayo Clinic in the United States recommends…

• drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day, between meals,
• eating and drinking slowly
• eat lean foods, rich in protein and low in sugar,
• avoiding alcohol,
• limit caffeine,
• take daily vitamin and mineral supplements, and
• chew food well.