[belyro]

This article was in our local newspaper this morning (although it's not locally written). It's chalk full of comments that are going to end up spreading more misinformation.......



Study: Obesity Surgery Can Cure Diabetes
By CARLA K. JOHNSON – 14 hours ago

CHICAGO (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.

Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests.

"It's the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it's very low risk," said the study's lead author, Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia.

The patients had stomach band surgery, a procedure more common in Australia than in the United States, where gastric bypass surgery, or stomach stapling, predominates.

Gastric bypass is even more effective against diabetes, achieving remission in a matter of days or a month, said Dr. David Cummings, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal but was not involved in the study.

"We have traditionally considered diabetes to be a chronic, progressive disease," said Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle. "But these operations really do represent a realistic hope for curing most patients."

Diabetes experts who read the study said surgery should be considered for some obese patients, but more research is needed to see how long results last and which patients benefit most. Surgery risks should be weighed against diabetes drug side effects and the long-term risks of diabetes itself, they said.

Experts generally agree that weight-loss surgery would never be appropriate for diabetics who are not obese, and current federal guidelines restrict the surgery to obese people.

The diabetes benefits of weight-loss surgery were known, but the Australian study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association is the first of its kind to compare diabetes in patients randomly assigned to surgery or standard care. Scientists consider randomized studies to yield the highest-quality evidence.

The study involved 55 patients, so experts will be looking for results of larger experiments under way.

"Few studies really qualify as being a landmark study. This one is," said Dr. Philip Schauer, who was not involved in the Australian research but leads a Cleveland Clinic study that is recruiting 150 obese people with diabetes to compare two types of surgery and standard medical care.

"This opens an entirely new way of thinking about diabetes."

Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes, and researchers are furiously pursuing reasons for the link as rates for both climb. What's known is that excess fat can cause the body's normal response to insulin to go haywire. Researchers are investigating insulin-regulating hormones released by fat and the role of fatty acids in the blood.

In the Australian study, all the patients were obese and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the past two years. Their average age was 47. Half the patients underwent a type of surgery called laparoscopic gastric banding, where an adjustable silicone cuff is installed around the upper stomach, limiting how much a person can eat.

Both groups lost weight over two years; the surgery patients lost 46 pounds on average, while the standard-care patients lost an average of 3 pounds.

Blood tests showed diabetes remission in 22 of the 29 surgery patients after two years. In the standard-care group, only four of the 26 patients achieved that goal. The patients who lost the most weight were the most likely to eliminate their diabetes.

Both patient groups learned about low-fat, high-fiber diets and were encouraged to exercise. Both groups could meet with a health professional every six weeks for two years.

The death rate for stomach band surgery, which can cost $17,000 to $20,000, is about 1 in 1,000. There were only minor complications in the study. Stomach stapling has a 2 percent death rate and costs $20,000 to $30,000.

In the United States, surgeons perform more than 100,000 obesity surgeries each year.

The American Diabetes Association is interested in the findings. The group revises its recommendations each fall, taking new research into account.

"There is a growing body of evidence that bariatric surgery is an effective tool for managing diabetes," said Dr. John Buse of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, the association's president for medicine and science.

"It's just a question of how effective is it, for what spectrum of patients, over what period of time and at what cost? Not all those questions have been answered yet."

Medical devices used in the study were provided by the manufacturers, but the companies had no say over the study's design or its findings, Dixon said.

[JediSkipdogg]

Surgery Can Cure Diabetes in Obese Patients

It's not really misinformation....it's about taking care of the body. This is just the medical community's way of reversing diabetes caused by being overweight.

[belyro]

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

Surgery Can Cure Diabetes in Obese Patients

It's not really misinformation....it's about taking care of the body. This is just the medical community's way of reversing diabetes caused by being overweight.

Not specifying that T1 can't be reversed is misinformation in my opinion. They don't differentiate between the types at all.

[KCP]

Thats wha ti was thinking.. I read it and thought : oh so, im overweight. Can i get a gastric band and get rid of my diabetes

[xMenace]

Originally Posted by belyro

Not specifying that T1 can't be reversed is misinformation in my opinion. They don't differentiate between the types at all.

Well it's not like an OTC drug or an ebay suppliment. You do need a few physician consultations before you can even hope to get this. Then there's the five year wait...

[JediSkipdogg]

Originally Posted by belyro

Not specifying that T1 can't be reversed is misinformation in my opinion. They don't differentiate between the types at all.

Then I'd say 99% of articles written about diabetes are misinformation. Even those written by well known authoritative sources.

[belyro]

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

Then I'd say 99% of articles written about diabetes are misinformation. Even those written by well known authoritative sources.

I'd agree that about 99% of articles written about diabetes are misinformative in some way.

[LoDeSp]

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

Then I'd say 99% of articles written about diabetes are misinformation. Even those written by well known authoritative sources.

That sounds about right to me, especially for science-related articles. The reporters never get it right. Part of that is that newspapers used to (still do?) hire journalism grads instead of science grads...

[JediSkipdogg]

Originally Posted by LoDeSp

That sounds about right to me, especially for science-related articles. The reporters never get it right. Part of that is that newspapers used to (still do?) hire journalism grads instead of science grads...

THe problem is media has a duty to report information to the general public. They also have a duty to provide it as accurate as possible. However, what the reporter doesn't know they can't report on, so if they don't know that there's two types, they are doing nothing wrong.

[JasonJayhawk]

Today (Wed), ABC Nightly News had a segment on the huge cost of diabetes in America. They started out the segment in a children's pediatric diabetes location, showing skinny kids, and then saying that obesity is the problem.

What, they couldn't get file footage from an adult obesity clinic??

They did reference Type 2 diabetes as being "the major cause", but they said nothing about Type 1 having no choice.

ARGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[ant hill]

Originally Posted by KCP

Thats wha ti was thinking.. I read it and thought : oh so, im overweight. Can i get a gastric band and get rid of my diabetes

LOL

That would be the laugh of the century.

Originally Posted by belyro

I'd agree that about 99% of articles written about diabetes are misinformative in some way.

Yes and how too.

Originally Posted by JasonJayhawk

Today (Wed), ABC Nightly News had a segment on the huge cost of diabetes in America. They started out the segment in a children's pediatric diabetes location, showing skinny kids, and then saying that obesity is the problem.

What, they couldn't get file footage from an adult obesity clinic??

They did reference Type 2 diabetes as being "the major cause", but they said nothing about Type 1 having no choice.

ARGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I am begin to think that journalists don't bother with telling the truth as long that they have their story printed with their name on it. DOH!!!

[Alice]

Yes, they always seem to leave out the difference in Type 1's...I always applaud even a poorly-researched article if they at least make that basic distinction.

There would be a lot of dead Type 1's dropping on the streets after "gastric" cure...

[REDLAN]

I had a conversation with my manager the other day - we had to look at my work risk assessment (oh joy).

Anyway we get onto the subject of hypos, and the precautions I need to take to ensure mine and others safety. I explain that MDI leads to increased hypos and why (in much simpler words of course), and he says why don't other diabetics have problems with hypos? (meaning other employees)

I answer maybe they run their blood sugars higher so it's not so much an issue. He nods wisely...

and then I get to thinking and realise...

of course the other employees don't have problems with hypos, they have type 2 diabetes - he doesn't know there is more than 1 type of diabetes.

So yeah just about every article you read on diabetes is about type 2, and they never bother to explain that there are different types. If they actually put type 2 diabetes on the article people would at least get the idea that there are other types.

[CaptainMike]

Here I am in all my Type 2 Obese glory, do you think I can get on the short list for gastric bypass surgery? After all if I just quit being a glutton I'd be 'cured' right..? oh wait I'm sorry, the article referred to it as 'in remission'

[susique333]

LOL, if youre obese Im Martha Stewart. Nice ride by the way!