Bariatric surgery-mediated weight loss and its metabolic consequences for type-2 diabetes.

The worldwide epidemic of obesity and its medical complications are being dealt with a combination of life style changes (e.g., healthier diet and exercise), medications and a variety of surgical interventions. The Roux-en Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) are two of the most common weight loss surgeries for morbid obesity-associated metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. A vast majority of patients that undergo RYGB and LAGB are known to experience marked weight loss and attenuation of diabetes. A number of recent studies have indicated that the rates of remission in glycemic control and insulin sensitivity are significantly greater in patients that have undergone RYGB. A plausible hypothesis to explain this observation is that the gastric bypass surgery as opposed to the gastric banding procedure impinges on glucose homeostasis by a weight loss-independent mechanism. In a recent paper, Bradley et al have experimentally explored this hypothesis. The authors compared several clinical and laboratory parameters of insulin sensitivity and β-cell function in cohorts of RYGB and LAGB patients before and after they lost approximately 20% of their body mass. After weight loss, both groups of patients underwent similar changes in their intra-abdominal and total adipose tissue volume, hepatic triglyceride and circulating leptin levels. The RYGB patients who lost 20% body mass, manifested higher postprandial output of glucose, insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1; these laboratory parameters remained unchanged in LABG patients. Irrespective of the observed differences in transient responses of RYGB and LAGB patients to mixed meal, the overall glycemic control as judged by glucose tolerance, multi-organ insulin sensitivity and β-cell function were nearly identical in the two groups. Both RYGB and LAGB patient cohorts also experienced similar changes in the expression of a number of pro- and anti-inflammatory markers. Based on these analyses, Bradley et al concluded that similar restoration of insulin sensitivity and b-cell function in non-diabetic obese patients that have undergone RYGB and LAGB were directly due to marked weight loss. These data have important implications for the risk/benefit analysis of weight loss therapy by bariatric procedures.