Diet, exercise, therapy and drugs can help obese people get healthier. But weight-loss surgery does a better job of getting rid of extra pounds and treating type 2 diabetes, a new review of past studies shows.
The studies only followed people for two years. So it's possible the results would look different further down the line, the authors write.
So-called bariatric surgery, like gastric bypass or gastric banding, reduces the size of the stomach so patients can only eat small amounts of food.
Many doctors have noted the dramatic weight loss that often results. But it wasn't obvious how surgery stacks up against traditional diet and exercise strategies.
The new review included 11 studies. Each study randomly chose some obese people to have surgery and others to make diet or lifestyle changes instead, for instance. Together those studies included close to 800 people.
Participants in the bariatric surgery groups lost an average of 57 more pounds than those in the non-surgery groups. Average weight loss ranged from 45 to 100 pounds among those who had surgery. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_142109.html
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