Increased Hormones Postsurgery Aid Weight Loss

Stomach bypass surgery reducesweight not just by limiting food intake butby increasing levels of appetite-suppressinghormones, according to investigatorsfrom Imperial College London.They assessed how weight-loss procedures—gastric bypass and stomachbanding—affect the hormones secretedby the gut. They found that patients whohad stomach bypass surgery also hadincreased levels of the hormones PYYand GLP-1, which produce the sensationof feeling full, as well as improving bloodsugar levels. This effect was not prevalentin patients who underwent gastricbanding. If the effects of these increasedhormones can be replicated in a drugtherapy, it could lead to new treatmentsfor severe obesity, say researchers. Theirresearch was published in the January2006 issue of the Annals of Surgery.

Ms. Farley is a freelance medicalwriter based in Wakefield, RI.