A recent study has revealed that the gastric bypass can make type 2 diabetes to go into remission, but it is essential how much weight the patient loses in the period right after the obesity surgery.

Gastric bypass is an operation used to treat morbid obesity (the severe accumulation of excess weight as fatty tissue) and the health problems it causes. The surgery involves sectioning off a small portion of the stomach in order to create a pouch which limits the amount of food a person can eat in one sitting. The surgeons also insert "gastric bands" which restrict access to the stomach, and gastric bypasses that interfere with digestion.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, found out that the gastric bypass causes hormonal changes that improve diabetes control. However, it’s not all about hormones - the amount of weight lost by the patient in the first six months after surgery is essential to diabetes remission.

"Gastric bypass surgery appears to cause important metabolic effects that rapidly improve type 2 diabetes, but weight loss itself is also extremely important," said Dr. Eric DeMaria for Reuters Health.

The findings of the study were presented by DeMaria this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in Washington, DC.

The gastric bypass also reduces the risk of cancer for patients suffering from morbid obesity by more than 80%, another study conducted by researchers in Canada shows. The study involved 1,035 patients who had bariatric operations between 1986 and 2002. They were compared with 5,746 patients who had not undergone gastric bypass.