Another recent news story on the potential for a new experimental surgery to cure type 2 diabetes. Please feel free to share your comments on this article courtesy of ABC News.

Be well,
The Focus28 Team

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A Surgical Cure for Diabetes?

Doctors Think Cutting Off Part of the Small Intestine May Regulate Blood Sugar

By JUJU CHANG, TRACEY MARX and IMAEYEN IBANGA

April 13, 2008

A new, experimental surgery could make type 2 diabetes disappear in some patients. While doctors have refrained from calling it a cure, some believe a duodenal jejunal bypass may be the first step in finding a surgical solution to the country’s diabetic epidemic.

“We have started the ball rolling as far as surgical treatment of diabetes, and I think [it’s] going to pick up speed,” said Dr. Mahdu Rangraj of Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, N.Y.

Rangraj and Dr. Leonard Maffucci performed the surgical procedure as a part of a clinical trail on type 2 diabetes patient Rocco Turso.

For more than six years, Turso couldn’t go anywhere without a lot of medicine to treat his condition, which included three insulin shots daily and digesting several pills. Still, his condition continued to worsen.

“I could see my vision was getting a little blurry. I saw in my feet that my toenails, some got a little bit yellow,” he said. “The diabetes was winning, not me.”

Turso fought back by becoming the first man in America to undergo the surgery for diabetes.

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Since the Focus28 office lines have been ablaze with phone calls over the last week relating to the recent publicity relating to the potential of obesity surgery being a potential cure for diabetes we felt it was most appropriate to reference an article published earlier this year by the Associated Press relating to the subject.

Obviously this news is monumental and could change the lives of many of those who have been battling both obesity and diabetes for years. Please stay tuned as we continue to report the latest news on the Focus28 expert blog and remember - everyday is a journey and is worth celebrating.

Be well,
The Focus28 team

Obesity surgery seen as potential diabetes cure

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) — A small new study gives the strongest evidence yet that obesity surgery can cure diabetes.

Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes; rates for both are climbing.

 Patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care, according to Australian researchers.

Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests.

“It’s the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it’s very low risk,” said Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia, lead author of the study, which involved 55 patients.

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Anyone who has experienced significant weight loss must then face what may be the real challenge, keeping the weight off. The most important factor, I believe, is setting attainable goals. If you try to do something that is too difficult, then you will not be able to do it for any sustained period of time. I believe that finding a realistic, doable approach that works for you is the key element in keeping off the weight you have lost. In listing my recommendations below, I classify each as:

1. Easy.
2. Not too hard.
3. Too hard.

Focus on numbers 1 and 2 and see what can realistically be done to move a number 3 down to a number 2.

First the easy ones, eat breakfast daily. Avoiding this meal is a natural, yet wrong approach that many people use. It might seem that if you are not really hungry for breakfast and you eat less by skipping a meal that cannot hurt, but skipping breakfast or any other meal is a terrible strategy that has been shown time and time again to undermine the effort to keep off the weight you have lost. Your body is pretty smart and if you skip a meal, you will more than make up for it later. Again, this is an easy commitment you can make, just do it.

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