It’s been less than one month since two studies — conducted independently by researchers in the United States and Italy — concluded that bariatric surgery may be the best treatment for obese people who suffer from type 2 diabetes.
Now a new study, conducted by yet another institution, also in Italy, comes to the same conclusion. All three studies found that patients who underwent weight loss surgery enjoyed improved diabetes outcomes compared to patients who received standard therapy and medications to control diabetes.
Obesity and diabetes are two major health challenges across the world, and for both diseases, the increasing prevalence has reached epidemic proportions. Even as the prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. and across the world is surging in parallel with obesity’s rise, the link between the two conditions is also well established: Some 80 percent of the 23 million adult Americans who have type 2 diabetes are either overweight or obese.