Bariatric Surgery Itself, Not Weight Loss, May Help Cure Type 2 Diabetes.

Reuters  (5/31, Begley) reports that a Connecticut woman whose body mass index (BMI) was well below 35 was cured of type 2 diabetes after undergoing bariatric surgery. Currently, the American Diabetes Association recommends that bariatric surgery "may be considered" in diabetes patients whose BMI is 35 or above. Medicare and private insurers also apply that BMI threshold to bariatric surgical candidates. In the case of the Connecticut women and others like her, researchers now theorize that bariatric surgery itself may somehow alter how the gut signals the brain and the brain signals the liver, thus curing patients of the condition. Should this theory prove to be true, it has profound implications for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.