Obesity can cause diabetes! Gastric bypass surgery may be considered

The number of people with diabetes in Taiwan has exceeded 1.45 million, and more than NT$100 billion is spent each year on treatment for diabetes complications, accounting for 1/5 of the total health insurance budget. Obesity is a risk factor for inducing diabetes. Doctors remind that diabetes caused by obesity can be treated with gastric bypass weight loss surgery, but one should still be careful about the occurrence of complications. Only by developing good eating habits and regular exercise can the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases be alleviated.

For diabetes caused by obesity, developing good eating habits and regular exercise can alleviate the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Zhuang Limin, president of the Diabetes Society of the Republic of China, pointed out in a special lecture at the "Taiwan Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Society" on the 19th that about 99% of diabetes patients in Taiwan are type 2 diabetes patients, and type 2 diabetes is more common in middle-aged and elderly people over 40 years old and obese people. Since diabetes itself cannot be cured, long-term medication or insulin injections are required to control blood sugar and delay the occurrence of cardiovascular and other complications.

Clinically, it has been found that among the common complications of diabetes, the proportion of patients with concurrent large and small vessel diseases and comorbid hypertension is higher than that of other complications; about 30% of diabetic patients also have cardiovascular diseases; and more than 60% of diabetic patients also suffer from hypertension, which is even 15 times higher than 13 years ago.

Dr. Zhuang Limin said that if diabetic patients' condition is not well controlled, they may suffer from complications such as blindness, dialysis, and amputation. (Photo by Zhang Shijie)

Dr. Zhuang Limin said that if the condition of diabetic patients is not well controlled, it may lead to complications such as blindness, dialysis, and amputation. Medical research has found that gastric bypass surgery for morbidly obese people is also effective in treating diabetes, but the long-term effects still need to be tracked. Patients are also prone to vitamin deficiencies, which can lead to sequelae such as osteoporosis and anemia.

In the past, type 2 diabetes was considered a pancreatic disease, but in recent years it has been found to be a gastrointestinal disease that is related to intestinal hormone disorders. The success rate of controlling diabetes through exercise and medication is only 30%, while the success rate of gastric bypass surgery is as high as 90%, but how long can it last? Long-term follow-up is also needed.

Gastric bypass weight loss surgery mainly utilizes the stomach to partition and bypass the intestines to achieve the effect of reducing food intake and improving absorption. In addition to limiting food intake through the volume of the stomach pouch, the bypass itself also helps with weight loss. Gastric bypass surgery not only restricts the patient's diet, but also changes hormone secretion after the gastrointestinal tract is reorganized, which can activate insulin. Blood sugar drops immediately after the surgery, and other metabolic indicators also improve, thus avoiding the fate of dialysis and blindness.