Obesity’s link to diabetes is well documented and it comes as no surprise that bariatric surgery helps. But new research from Duke University and Columbia University finds that the weight loss surgery works in a way that is quite unexpected.
Results of a study published in Science Translational Medicine show that bariatric surgery results in a reduction of amino acids in the blood, specifically branched-chain amino acids. While these amino acids are essential for humans, the study results suggest that reducing their concentration in the blood could be related to improvement in blood sugar regulation.
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“What we were trying to do is cast a very wide net,” Christopher Newgard, director of Duke’s Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center, told Reuters. “What we caught is a very clear difference between bariatric surgery and dietary intervention.”
The research was conducted at Duke’s Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center and the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. Patients who had bariatric surgery experienced a reduction in branched-chain amino acids far more pronounced than those patients who only changed their diet. According to the study, up to 80 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes saw improvement after gastric bypass surgery. The exact mechanism of how this works is not yet known.
Science Translational Medicine said that “these observations raise the possibility that changes in circulating amino acids play a role in the correction of glycemic control observed shortly after (gastric bypass surgery).”
