According to a new study, teenagers who undergo gastric bypass surgery get an added benefit with the weight loss of getting rid of their type 2 diabetes as well.

The research published today in the journal Pediatrics has said that gastric bypass surgery also called bariatric surgery, which works by reducing the size of the stomach and thereby limiting the food one can eat not only helps the person lose weight but helps get rid of their type 2 diabetes as well.

Lead researcher Dr. Thomas H. Inge, an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center said, "Previous studies have shown frequent remission of type 2 diabetes in adults following bariatric surgery, but until now, no research had been done to provide information about outcomes of adolescent diabetics who are considering surgical weight loss. Our study found that, in most cases, teens can lose one-third of their weight and come off diabetes medications with remission of their diabetes one year after bypass surgery. This is certainly not the case for similar diabetic teenage patients who did not undergo surgery,"

In the study researchers looked at 78 teens with type 2 diabetes and of these eleven patients underwent gastric bypass surgery, while the other 67 patients received usual care for their diabetes. In the case of the teens that had surgery, not only did they have an average 34 percent reduction in their weight, but their diabetes went into remission, while teens that did not have surgery saw an average weight loss of less than two pounds and still needed their diabetes medication. The teens that had surgery also had improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

"In addition to the impressive weight loss and type 2 diabetes results, patients undergoing the gastric bypass surgery also showed significant improvement in blood pressure, insulin, glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels," Inge said.

Sounding a note of caution Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine said, “Gastric bypass surgery is an effective last resort for severe obesity in adolescence, as in adulthood. But a last resort it should be, and we should do all we can to minimize the need for this procedure by combating the root causes of obesity in our society."

Summing it up Inge said, "The results have been quite dramatic and to our knowledge, there are no other anti-diabetic therapies that result in more effective and long-term control than that seen with bariatric surgery."