Once installed, obesity triggers a series of complications regarding the patient’s health. Among them are cardiovascular complications, reduced fertility and diabetes. Diabetes is one of the most common side effects of obesity, the treatment of which is as complex as possible.
Find out from this material what is the connection between obesity and diabetes, but especially how obesity surgery can solve type 2 diabetes.
What is the connection between diabetes and obesity?
How does bariatric surgery help in treating diabetes?
A person is considered obese when the body mass index exceeds 30. Excess weight not only affects the quality of life and prevents the person from carrying out daily activities, but also creates a predisposition towards the appearance of various complications. Among the most common side effects of obesity is diabetes.
Diabetes is one of the most common medical conditions worldwide. There are 3 main classifications of diabetes: type I, type II and gestational diabetes (which occurs only in pregnant women). Of these three types of diabetes, type II diabetes is often associated with obesity.
Diabetes occurs when there is an imbalance in the hormone secreted by the pancreas, responsible for regulating blood sugar levels.
What is the connection between diabetes and obesity?
A large part of obese people are affected by diabetes or have a very high risk of developing diabetes in a very short period of time. The explanation is simple: the extra weight of the body forces the pancreas to produce more hormones to regulate the blood glucose level. In order to cope with this additional production, the pancreatic cells reach overload, and their overload produces an imbalance and implicitly the failure of the entire mechanism for regulating the amount of sugar in the blood.
Being a very close connection between these two conditions of interdependence, in some situations, the reverse situation is also valid. Many patients with diabetes, especially those with type II diabetes, begin to gain weight, reaching overweight or obesity in a very short time.
How does bariatric surgery help in treating diabetes?
Obesity surgery not only helps to solve problems related to excessive weight but also in terms of treating associated complications, implicitly diabetes.
Type II diabetes can be effectively managed with drugs, as well as through lifestyle changes and physical exercises. However, most patients who face both obesity and diabetes are unable to make this happen on their own. Fortunately, modern medical miracles, such as weight loss surgery by shrinking the stomach, can help patients solve both problems.
Obesity surgery is considered an advanced treatment of diabetes, being a procedure that makes permanent changes in the digestive tract.
Type 2 diabetes is not the only condition improved or even treated by bariatric surgery. With this intervention, the risk of developing heart disease, hypertension, asthma and sleep apnea decreases.
