More Weight Loss Therapies from Bariatric Surgery
In a recent Blog post,
entitled "Knowing How Bariatric Surgery Causes
Weight Loss Can Lead to Beneficial Therapies," we
discussed weight loss therapies that were coming
out of studies motivated by bariatric surgical
findings. We stated that "investigation into how
bariatric surgery causes weight loss and other
positive changes in the body would be beneficial
in helping experts develop multiple therapies for
treating obesity."
We talked about a
study that shows that gastric bypass surgery seems
to cause a replacement of fattening bacteria with
slimming bacteria. Researchers
at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard
University performed studies with mice and
confirmed that there were more slimming bacteria
in the gut in mice after the surgery than
fattening bacteria. That research results may lead
to non-invasive weight loss or weight management approaches.
And a procedure called
bile diversion or BD, derived from research coming
out of gastric bypass surgery, may lead to a
non-invasive treatment for conditions associated
with obesity. "Scientists
at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
used a catheter to re-direct the flow of
bile [in rats] from the bile duct into the small
intestine, producing the same metabolic and
weight-loss benefits as bariatric surgeries such
as gastric by-pass."
Researchers don't
fully understand why the bile diversion works.
Indeed, researchers don't fully understand how
gastric bypass surgery produces some of the post
surgical benefits that it produces. More research
is required. Still, researchers hope to
eventually develop therapies that engender many of
the positive results that bariatric surgery
produces, in humans, without the surgery.
Bariatric surgery is an extremely useful weight loss
treatment. Non-invasive weight loss methods,
including obesity drugs, diet, exercise and
lifestyle modification, don't generally accomplish
the weight loss that surgery does. However,
bariatric surgery has more related complications
than non surgical methods. That's why it's fortunate
that experts are exploring therapeutic options that
mimic bariatric surgery results while minimizing the
associated complications. Some of these options
might eventually prove to be good weight loss
approaches.
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