In a peculiar finding after some gastric bypass surgeries, doctors realized that in a good number of the patients who had undergone the procedure, the diabetes type 2 they were afflicted from had all but disappeared.
The next question for researchers was to find out why this was happening.
In gastric bypass, as the photo shows above, the intestine bypasses the stomach and food is rerouted directly to the intestine instead of passing through the stomach.
The origins and regulation of type 2 Diabetes had always been thought to derive from hormone balance, diet and muscle/fat ratios. The study however, startled them. The intestine was in effect the organ that affected blood sugar levels.
The small intestine, which is the portion of the intestine that is attached during surgery just below the Hiatal sphincter in a created small pouch at the top of the stomach itself, actually metabolizes and disposes of the sugar direclty, thereby playing a major role in the resolution of diabetes. The intestinal cells seem to change their functions to assume this role specifically as a result of the gastric bypass.
However, some scientists caution that the resolution of the Diabetes might have much to do with the weight loss usually experienced by the patients. In addition, many of the patients who had conquered diabetes after gastric bypass surgery saw it return after 5 years from surgery.
Source : MNT/ 7.29.13
The small intestine in fact, reprograms itself after surgery.
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