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Weight Loss Surgery for Diabetic Teens

This post blows my mind. Now gastric bypass surgery is being been done on our children! But with the rise of childhood obesity, I guess it was only a matter of time that this would be considered. Wow! Our society has to wake up and stop the madness.

Researchers say type 2 diabetes has traditionally been considered an adult disease. But with the rise of childhood obesity, the rate of type 2 diabetes among children has increased more than tenfold in the last two decades, from 3% to nearly half of all new pediatric diabetes cases.

A small new study shows Roux-en-Y gastric bypass weight loss surgery halted the use of medications for type 2 diabetes in 10 out of 11 obese adolescents treated with the procedure. And the surgery reduced their risk factors for heart disease.

Previous studies have shown that weight loss surgery can prompt the remission of type 2 diabetes in adults, but this is the first study to show that the treatment may have the same effect in adolescents.

In the study, researchers examined the effects of the gastric bypass surgery on 11 extremely obese adolescents with type 2 diabetes and numerous heart disease risk factors.

A year after the weight loss surgery, researchers found evidence of remission of type 2 diabetes in all but one of the patients.

Specifically, the average BMI (body mass index, a measure of obesity) was reduced by 34% and fasting blood glucose and insulin concentrations decreased by 41% and 81%, respectively. Improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, two major risk factors for heart disease, were also observed.


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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 2:13 pm and is filed under diabetes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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