What would you say if I told you there's a cure for type II diabetes that's effective in 83% of people, extremely rapid, and requires no lifestyle changes? Would you think I was crazy? Well maybe I am, but the cure exists nevertheless. All it requires is a little intestinal mutilation. It's called gastric bypass surgery. It's an anti-obesity surgery where the digestive tract is re-routed, bypassing 95% of the stomach as well as the duodenum and jejunum, which are parts of the upper small intestine. The effect was first reported in 1995 by Dr. Walter Pories. Initially, researchers thought the cure was simply from caloric restriction due to a smaller stomach volume, but since then the story has become much more interesting. The key finding was published in 2004 by Dr. Francesco Rubino, who showed that bypassing the duodenum and jejunum but not the stomach of type II diabetic rats was enough to cure their diabetes. The effect wasn't due to caloric restriction, since both groups ate the same amount of food.
What this suggests is that there's some kind of feedback coming from the upper small intestine that affects glucose control and insulin sensitivity. What could be causing it? It just so happens there are some pretty good candidates: hormones called GLP-1 and ghrelin. I'm going to dive into this and see if I can figure out what's going on. Sorry for the cheesy post title, I'm practicing for my best-seller. Maybe I should add the word "secret"? How about this: "101 Secret Diabetes Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About".
