(CBS/AP) Nearly 26 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, and now researchers say they may have a way to reverse the disease for many of them. Their studies give clear proof that weight-loss surgery can reverse and possibly cure diabetes and doctors are saying more people should be offered the surgery, and not just as last resort..

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The two studies, released on Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, are the first to compare stomach-reducing operations to medicines alone for "diabesity" - Type 2 diabetes caused by obesity. Millions of Americans have it, and can't make enough insulin to process sugar from what they eat.

Both studies found that surgery helped far more patients achieve normal blood-sugar levels than medicines alone did. Some were able to stop taking insulin as soon as three days after their surgeries. Cholesterol and other heart risk factors also improved dramatically.

Doctors don't like to say "cure" because they can't promise a disease will never come back. But in one study, most surgery patients were able to stop all diabetes drugs and have their disease stay in remission for at least two years. None of those treated with medicines alone could do that.

"It is a major advance," said Dr. John Buse, a diabetes researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was no involved in the studies. Buse said he often recommends surgery to patients who are obese and can't control their blood-sugar through medications, but many are leery of it. "This evidence will help convince them that this really is an important therapy to at least consider," he said.

There were signs that the surgery itself - not just weight loss - reverses diabetes. Food makes the gut produce hormones to spur insulin, so doctors think trimming away part of it surgically may affect those hormones.

Weight-loss surgery "has proven to be a very appropriate and excellent treatment for diabetes," said one study co-leader, Dr. Francesco Rubino, chief of diabetes surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "The most proper name for the surgery would be diabetes surgery."

More than a third of American adults are obese, and more than 8 percent have diabetes, a major cause of heart disease, strokes and kidney failure. Between 5 million and 10 million are like the people in these studies, with both problems.

For a century, doctors have been treating diabetes with pills and insulin, and encouraging weight loss and exercise with limited success. Surgery offers hope for a long-term fix. It costs $15,000 to $25,000, and Medicare covers it for very obese people with diabetes. Gastric bypass is the most common type: Through "keyhole" surgery, doctors reduce the stomach to a small pouch and reconnect it to the small intestine.

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Weight-loss surgery can "reverse" diabetes, studies confirm

Public release date: 26-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ellen Acconcia eacconcia@sirweb.org 703-460-5582 Society of Interventional Radiology

A minimally invasive treatment may target hunger at its source, another uses X-ray visible embolic beads to block arteries to the stomach and suppress hunger and a third explores the use of stem cells to repair vertebral disc degeneration. Initial results from all these studies were reported at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 37th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

Approximately 127 million Americans (or 65 percent) are overweight, obese or morbidly obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of morbid obesity is also rising rapidly. Two new studies that explored the use of proven interventional radiology treatments in new ways may have the potential to help individuals with morbid obesity.

"Currently, there are three clinically viable surgical alternatives for obesity: gastric bypass surgery, gastric pacing and endoscopic gastric banding. These procedures have varying success rates; they are invasive, require extensive gastric/bowel reconstruction or external devices and can have significant surgical complications," explained Charles Y. Kim, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and lead investigator on one of the studies.

"Our promising results led us to believe that a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatmentcalled bariatric arterial embolizationwould allow for precise targeting of a specific portion of a person's stomach in order to decrease production of ghrelin, a hormone that causes hunger. This treatment could one day be the answer for those who have not been successful with weight loss through diet and exercise," said Kim.

Embolization is a minimally invasive technique where an interventional radiologist uses a thin catheter to inject tiny particles into an artery supplying the area being treated with the goal of blocking tiny vessels to starve it of its blood supply.

"Interventional radiologists have safely and effectively used embolization in many other disease states for decades," stated Kim. "For this study, we selectively blocked and decreased the blood flow to a very specific part of the stomach using specialized radiologic equipment, which led to significantly decreased levels of ghrelin in the animals that we treated. We found that when ghrelin levels decrease, appetite and hunger also decrease, causing weight loss in the treated animals relative to non-treated animals," Kim continued. "Bariatric arterial embolization may have a future use in treating obesity in humans by significantly suppressing appetite to achieve weight loss," he said.

The researchers will continue studies aimed at the reduction and elimination of complications, such as stomach ulcers, and expressed confidence that bariatric arterial embolization is very close to moving toward the clinical trial phase in the United States.

A second study tested a new type of X-ray-visible embolic bead in bariatric arterial embolization.

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No pain, no gain: Weight loss, disc disease interventional radiology treatments coming

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

CHICAGO - Obesity surgery can reverse the signs of diabetes, according to small new study, allowing many patients to quickly reach normal blood-sugar levels while reducing or eliminating their need for insulin or other medications.

In the study of 150 patients with Type 2 diabetes, 42% of those randomly assigned to the stomach-reducing surgery saw their blood sugar drop to normal levels, according to research presented in Chicago at the annual meeting of ithe American College of Cardiology. Some patients who had the operations, called bariatric surgery, improved so rapidly that they went off their diabetes medications before leaving the hospital, says lead investigator Philip Schauer, a professor of surgery and director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

Improving blood sugar is vital, because patients in the study had suffered from "uncontrolled" diabetes for eight years or more, in spite of seeing their doctors regularly, says co-author Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. High blood sugar increases the risk of diabetic complications, such as heart attacks, kidney failure, amputations and blindness. Patients began the study with very high blood sugar, as measured by a test called hemoglobin A1c, or HA1c. Patients' average baseline HA1c levels were 9.2%; a level of 6% or lower is considered healthy. After surgery, nearly half reached about that level.

"The result is simply stunning," Nissen says. Nissen says he's reluctant to say that the operation, known as bariatric surgery, actually cured diabetes, because patients have been followed only for one year. "But from a biochemical point of view, they were no longer diabetic."

Patients agreed to let researchers randomly assign them to one of three treatments, according to the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. One-third received intensive therapy with multiple drugs, plus counseling and lifestyle changes; one-third received medications plus underwent "sleeve gastrectomy" surgery to remove up to 80% of the stomach; one-third got medications and had a more extensive surgery called gastric bypass, which reduces the stomach to 2% to 3% of its former size, then reconnects it to the small intestine.

Patients treated with intensive medications, who saw their doctors every three months, also improved, but not as much. About 12% achieved a normal blood sugar, the study says. Heather Britton, 53, says she's 73 pounds lighter today than when she had a gastric bypass during the study, three years ago. She describes her diabetes as "in remission." She was able to go off all of her medications - for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol - within three months of surgery, and no longer suffers from asthma or food allergies. Britton is no longer able to eat fatty foods, such as ice cream or peanut butter, which make her feel sick. But she's exercising regularly and feels better than ever. "It's been wonderful," says Britton, of Bay Village, Ohio, who has lost several family members to diabetes. "It's changed my destiny."

Yet surgery poses risks, Schauer says. The most common complications in the study were dehydration and bleeding. One patient developed a gastrointestinal leak from the surgical site. That's a serious issue, because it can lead to a dangerous infection. Four of 100 surgical patients needed additional surgeries to fix these complications within a year of their operation. No one died or suffered a life-threatening or debilitating complication.

Patients treated at community hospitals may not achieve the same results as those treated at the Cleveland Clinic, a top-tier center, says Brian Sabowitz, a bariatric medicine specialist in San Antonio. He advises patients to look for a surgeon who performs at least 150 bariatric surgeries a year. In general, about 15% to 20% of patients undergoing these procedures suffer a complication, such as nausea or needing intravenous fluids, although only 1% suffer a serious complication. The death rate from the surgery is 1 in 2,000.

Researchers plan to follow patients for three to four years to see how long such "remissions" last. They will also compare the long-term costs of the three approaches. Surgery can cost $25,000 and may not be covered by insurance, Schauer says. Years of treatment with drugs can be expensive, as well. Patients whose diabetes isn't controlled may need surgery or other expensive, invasive procedures, such as kidney dialysis, Nissen says.

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Studies: Weight-loss Surgery can put Diabetes into Remission

Weight-loss surgery may be best cure for diabetes March 26th, 2012, 12:13 pm posted by Courtney Perkes

Two studies published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine have found that bariatric weight-loss surgery can reverse diabetes in obese patients far more effectively than medication and lifestyle coaching alone.

In summary, the studies showed some dramatic results, including patients who could stop taking insulin only days after surgery, even before losing large amounts of weight.

Dr. Peter LePort, bariatric surgeon at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, estimated that 25 to 35 percent of his patients have type 2 diabetes.

A significant portion of my patients come in not only because theyre heavy but they say, I have to get rid of my hypertension, my diabetes, my back pain and thats motivating them more than the weight loss, LePort said. The significant thing here is gastric bypass seems to get rid of diabetes very quickly even before they lose all the weight.

LePort said he would like to see research on if gastric surgery can cure diabetes in patients who are not morbidly obese.

In one study, patients at the Cleveland Clinic who underwent stomach-shrinking surgeries were compared with those who took medication and received intensive lifestyle and weight loss coaching. After a year, the surgery patients had lost more weight and many were able to control their blood sugar without medication.

The authors wrote, We conclude that bariatric surgery represents a potentially useful strategy for management of uncontrolled diabetes, since it has been shown to eliminate the need for diabetes medications in some patients and to markedly reduce the need for drug treatment in others.

In the other study at Catholic University in Rome, patients who underwent surgery were also compared to those who didnt. For those who had surgery, the remission rate from diabetes was up to 95 percent. As in the other study, the surgery patients also lost more weight.

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Weight-loss surgery may be best cure for diabetes

Bariatric Procedures Beat Out Medication at Controlling Blood Sugar

March 26, 2012 (Chicago) -- Weight loss surgery beat out the best available medications at controlling blood sugar in overweight and moderately obese people with type 2 diabetes, researchers report.

People who underwent one of two stomach-reducing procedures were three to four times more likely to have their blood sugar drop to normal levels after one year of treatment compared with people who received intensive medical therapy alone.

Some people who had surgery got better so quickly that they were able to stop taking their diabetes medication before even leaving the hospital, says study head Philip Schauer, MD, director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

They "were eventually weaned off all their diabetes medication -- as close to the definition of remission as you can get," Schauer tells WebMD.

"Bariatric [weight loss] surgery works and works well -- for both obesity and diabetes," Schauer says.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology and simultaneously published online by The New England Journal of Medicine.

About 80% of the 23 million American adults living with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.

High blood sugar is a major risk factor for a host of diabetes complications, including heart attack, amputation, kidney failure, and blindness.

In one recent study, 89% of people with type 2 diabetes who underwent gastric bypass surgery went into remission and 57% were still in remission after five years.

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Weight Loss Surgery Puts Diabetes Into Remission

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that patients with severe, out-of-control diabetes who received either gastric banding surgery or gastric bypass, had lower blood sugar -- long before they lost weight. NBC's Robert Bazell reports.

By Robert Bazell, Chief Science and Health Correspondent

A "sensational" new finding could be the beginning of a cure for type 2 diabetes, a disease described in an editorial accompanying the research in the New England Journal of Medicine as one of the fastest growing epidemics in human history.

Two studies find that weight loss surgery can eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in a large proportion of volunteers. That might not seem surprising, since obesity is the major risk factor for the disease. But in these studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, many of the patients got better within weeks, days, sometimes even hours after the surgery -- long before they lost any weight.

Its pretty amazing, said Dr. Phil Schauer of the Cleveland Clinic, the lead author on one of the studies. Schauaers study divided 150 patients with out-of-control diabetes into three groups. One-third got the best drug therapy, the next gastric-banding surgery, and last gastric bypass. The goal was to get the patients blood sugar (measured by the A1C test familiar to diabetics) below the normal level of 6 percent. Forty-two percent of the bypass patients reached the goal after one year compared to 37 percent of the banding patients and only 12 percent on medical therapy.

But those numbers dont even begin to show how successful this was," according to Dr. Steve Nissen, another author of the paper from the Cleveland Clinic. He points out that at the beginning of the study most of the patients were taking three or more medications to control their diabetes. But after a year almost none of the gastric-bypass patients needed medication. Forty-four percent required daily insulin injections before surgery and none did after. Diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease. Most of the surgery patients saw their HDL, the good cholesterol, shoot way up and their artery clogging triglycerides drop sharply.

This is sensational, Nissen told me.

The second study from the Catholic University of Rome and Weill Cornell Medical College followed sixty patients for two years and produced even stronger results. In that experiment one third of the volunteers got drug therapy, one third bypass surgery, and the last group underwent bilopancreatic diversion, an even more severe weight-loss operation where surgeons block part of the small intestine.

After two years none of the patients on drug therapy reached the goal of normal blood sugar levels while 75 percent of those who underwent bypass did and as did fully 95 percent of those undergoing the bilopancreatic diversion. The authors of the study say these patients have achieved complete diabetes remission. Though the doctors have followed them for only two years, there is no indication that the diabetes is returning in any of them.

Why, in some patients, do the positive effects take place long before they lose weight? Marla Evans, 56, one of the volunteers who got gastric banding in the Cleveland study put it this way, I was a diabetic, and then after the surgery, within a few days, the diabetes was much better, and within a month or two therewas no diabetes in my blood at all.

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Could weight loss surgery help end diabetes?

Chocolate: melts in your mouth and melts off your waistline.

Science fiction? Science fact, insists Dr. Beatrice Golomb, an associate professor of medicine at UC San Diego. The surprise is, Golomb said, eating chocolate frequently is linked to lower weight.

Although rich in sugar and fat, chocolate appears to have favorable metabolic effects, Golomb said. Fewer calories end up as fat deposited in the body.

These are the startling conclusions of a paper co-authored by Golomb and UC San Diegos Sabrina Koperski and Halbert L. White, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study does not prove why chocolate consumption has this effect, but this is still a sweet surprise.

Exercise and leafy greens are typical tactics among dieting Americans, not truffles and Kisses. The idea that eating chocolate, a treat often seen as a guilty pleasure, leads to a slimmer profile seems counter-intuitive.

Which makes this report classic Beatrice Golomb.

Everyone, noted a colleague, has biases and pre-conceived beliefs that chocolate, for instance, is fattening. Its hard to get rid of that and look at the evidence fresh, said Roger Bingham, co-founder and director of the Science Network, a UC San Diego-based broadcaster of science news. Beatrice is one of the people who does that to an extraordinary degree.

As a result, her work receives an extraordinary amount of attention. Hours before Mondays paper appeared, Golomb was fielding calls from the BBC, Reuters, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. This physician/scientists past work has been featured on 60 Minutes and The Daily Show, Parade magazine and The Times of India. Earlier this month, she made headlines with yet another study, this one linking aggression to diets rich in trans fats, a substance found in french fries, pancake mix, fried chicken and other oily foods.

Shes absolutely fearless and passionate, Bingham said. The only thing we have to do occasionally is slow her down, she talks so fast. I have people on the set say, Can we do that again at 33-and-a-third?

Now 51 or 52 she declined to state her age, but official sources note she was born in 1960 Golomb retains a wunderkinds glow. Talking to her is like parachuting onto an Everest base camp of the mind without oxygen tanks. Youre soon gasping for breath as she races for the summit, chattering merrily about epicatechins and neural networks.

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Weight loss secret: Chocolate!

IDAHO FALLS, ID--(Marketwire -03/25/12)- Supreme Natural Weight Loss in Idaho Falls announced that the practice has launched a new website for patients. The site contains free wellness and weight management information, and is designed to help patients manage obesity, high cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes. The website's weight loss blog incudes tips for staying on-target for weight loss goals, as well as information about customized diet plans including the Supreme Natural Diet. Interested individuals can access this free information at http://supremenaturalweightloss.com.

Weight loss patients have a new online resource packed with accurate, reliable tips for losing weight and getting in shape. Idaho Falls chiropractor Dr. Todd Reese and fellow chiropractor Dr. Devin Scoresby announced that their practice, Supreme Natural Weight Loss, has launched a new website to better serve patients. The website features a wellness blog, information on the diet program, as well as tips for keeping off the pounds and battling obesity.

"Whether patients need assistance losing weight or maintaining a current weight, our new website is a great resource to help patients get healthy for life," said Dr. Reese. "There's a lot of misinformation on the Internet about dieting, obesity and losing weight. Many of these 'quick-fix' diets can ultimately hurt the body, depriving it of needed nutrients and slowing down the body's metabolism. Our goal with this website is to provide medically accurate information about nutrition for sustainable and healthy diets."

Individuals can also learn more about how to get started with the practice's weight and wellness program by visiting the "Supreme Natural Diet Overview" link on the website. The practice provides customized plans through the Ideal Protein Diet, a four-phase program that is medically designed to stabilize blood sugar levels, burn fat and build lean muscle mass.

The website also includes a special section with free healthy living recipes that patients can download. The recipes are part of the practice's commitment to helping patients optimize their overall well-being through proper nutrition and healthy diets. According to Idaho Falls chiropractor Dr. Scoresby, simple substitutions in favorite recipes can make a big difference for overall health.

"One of the biggest challenges our patients face is not only losing weight, but also maintaining this loss," said Dr. Scoresby. "This is one reason why we are so excited to launch our new website. Our weight loss blog posts regularly feature seasonally appropriate tips for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight throughout the year. Whether it's how to maintain a nutritional balance at a summer cookout or Thanksgiving meal, we also provide recipes for healthy alternatives to favorite meals. Patients can trust that the information on our website is accurate and will help them safely lose weight and maintain this loss throughout their lives."

Individuals who would like to learn more about the weight and nutrition programs available at the wellness center may attend an introductory class. This class is typically offered every second and fourth Wednesday at 6:15pm. Individuals can check the online "Event Calendar," located on the practice's website, for more information.

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Idaho Falls Chiropractor Jump Starts Weight Loss Program With New Website