Research is yielding fresh clues explaining why weight-reduction surgery appears to be curing some diabetics.
Early results from a under way at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk suggest diabetics have enzymes different from non-diabetics and that enzymes in the bloodstream are altered following gastric bypasses, according to a report in the Virginian Pilot.
The study is focusing on different types of body fat and an enzyme found in fat called lipoxygenase, which can cause inflammation that damages blood vessels.
Another focus of the EVMS research is the question why gastric bypass surgery is more likely to cure diabetes than “lap-band” surgery, in which a band is placed on the upper portion of the stomach to make it smaller. Half of the 40 samples the researchers will examine come from gastric-bypass patients and the other half from those having lap-band operations.
The preliminary findings have proven startling enough that the researchers say they now expect to secure funding for expanding the study.
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