According to a recent study, people who are overweight, but not obese, and suffer from type 2 diabetes, show successful weight loss and remission of type 2 diabetes after going through a surgical procedure, known as gastric banding. The study was conducted by Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE) and sponsored by Allergan, a pharmaceutical company.
Gastric banding is a type of bariatric surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach for weight loss. In this procedure, a silicone band is placed around the upper portion of the stomach to create a small pouch. This pouch can hold about half cup of food whereas normal stomach can hold about six cups of food. The pouch fills with food quickly, and the band slows the passage of food from the pouch to the lower part of the stomach. As a result, you feel full quickly, eat less, and thereby lose weight.
A recent two-year Australian study conducted at CORE, Melbourne enrolled 51 overweight people suffering from type 2 diabetes, who were categorized into two groups. Patients in group 1 were treated with gastric banding surgery and patients in group 2 were treated with standard medical care, which involved regular consultations with a dietician, diabetes educator, and a physician.
According to the results, patients who were in gastric banding group, not only showed significant weight loss, but had improvement in their blood glucose levels as well. Although there was significant improvement in physical quality of life among gastric banding group as compared to medical group, the negative effects of gastric banding surgery were ignored to a great extent.

Here are some long – term risks and complications of bariatric surgery, one should keep in mind before opting for this procedure:

Long Term Risks and Complications

Dumping Syndrome:

After surgery, food leaves the stomach quickly and enters into the small intestine. The partially digested food draws excess fluid into the small intestine causing nausea, cramping, diarrhea, sweating, faintness, and palpitations

Gallstones:

Rapid weight loss increases the risk of developing gallstones.

Internal Hernia:

After weight loss surgery, you may feel that the fat is lost within the abdomen, which can lead to displacement of the bowel, causing internal hernia

Malnutrition:

Nutrients may be poorly absorbed, especially in patients who do not take their prescribed vitamins and minerals

Ulcers:

There is a possibility of developing ulcers at the margin of the pouch and small intestine

Psychological Problems:

Depression, adjustment disorder, relationship difficulties, and rarely suicide are some of the psychological problems of bariatric surgery
At times, you may get enticed to opt for a bariatric surgery by simply believing in the claims made through various studies or promotional advertisements. Therefore, it is advisable to be aware of all the risks and complications of bariatric surgery before you opt for it.

The benefits of bariatric surgery, such as immediate weight loss, remission of type 2 diabetes, etc. are quite luring. However, people often forget about the risks and lifestyle changes that come along with surgery.

Controlling High Cholesterol Without Statins

Even the idea of controlling high cholesterol without statins is likely to be ridiculed by a staunch believer of statins. In all honesty, they are not to be blamed. Statins are wonder drugs, the first real pharmaceutical drugs that cleaned the arteries by significantly reducing the LDL, so called bad cholesterol.

However, it will be naïve for anyone to believe that all these benefits come with no potential side effects. All pharmaceutical products do, some more than others. Statins have few drug interactions and the most commonly reported side effect is muscle ache or joint pains. Tackling Muscle Pain Caused by Stains. However, statins are also known to cause myopathy (usually dose-related) and, rarely, rhabdomyolysis. So, patients are monitored closely both during the initial months of statin therapy and when subsequent dose is increased.

Therefore, whether you have been recently diagnosed with high Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or are a long-time sufferer, the question is, “are statins your only option?” The answer is "No." Bile-acid sequestrants, nicotinic acid (niacin), fibrates, and cholesterol absorption inhibitors are the other four classes of drugs that are available for hypercholesterolemia (abnormal cholesterol). However, none of them are as effective in reducing LDL cholesterol as statins. How do cholesterol medications work?