According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), bariatric surgery has been shown to have significant success rates in the long-term for weight loss.

The JAMA study, titled “The Effectiveness and Risks of Bariatric Surgery: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, 2003-2012,” concludes weight loss surgery can often eliminate or restrict chronic diseases associated with obesity, including type-2 diabetes.

The study concludes that the data proves bariatric surgery is not only safe and effective in providing significant and sustainable weight loss, but is the most effective treatment today for diabetes, hypertension and an array of other diseases and conditions in people with obesity and that even the moderately obese can benefit from gastric bypass surgery and lower their diabetes risk factors.

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reviewed outcomes from nearly 162,000 patients in 164 studies (37 randomized clinical trials and 127 observational studies), over almost 10 years. They discovered 92 percent of patients in randomized clinical trials experienced diabetes remission after surgery, slightly higher than the 86 percent remission rate found in observational studies, but significantly higher than the 76.8 percent remission rate found in the 2004 JAMA study.

By procedure, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy resulted in the greatest weight loss, but had a higher rate of complications and mortality than adjustable gastric banding. Gastric banding had the highest reoperation rate (12 percent in randomized trials), while gastric bypass had the lowest at three percent, followed by sleeve gastrectomy, which had a reoperation rate of 9 percent.

The new meta-analysis included sleeve gastrectomy, which was not available in the 1990s. Of note, sleeve gastrectomy had comparable weight loss to that of gastric bypass at five years.

Weight Loss Surgery Might Not Help Long-Term

A second study from Rand Health in Santa Monica, Calif., also published in JAMA, found weight loss surgery has shown limited evidence to support its use for mildly obese adults. Rand Health is a nonprofit research organization funded by the U.S. government.

While researchers believe that gastric bypass surgery might help mildly obese adults with diabetes, a systematic review of more than 50 studies and 290 patients found that bariatric surgeries might offer short-term benefits for diabetes. However, there is no conclusive long-term evidence that weight-loss surgery can help with diabetes.

These patients demonstrated better intermediate glucose outcomes, better blood pressure, and short-term weight loss than with a non-surgical approach. Their long-term benefits and risks are unknown, but the Minnesota study did report some serious gastric bypass surgery side effects — like infections, gastrointestinal disorders, and high blood pressure — after 12 months.

Future research should closely examine the long-term benefits of weight-loss surgery to determine how reliable it is for treating diabetes.