How weight-loss surgery helps control chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension is a complex subject.
Having a vastly smaller stomach obviously makes overeating undesirable and uncomfortable. The surgery also affects metabolism: how the body turns food into energy.
Researchers spent a great deal of time debating what was metabolic surgery and what was bariatric surgery, sometimes to the frustration of doctors who see them as intertwined.
“Actually, we use them interchangeably,” said Dr. Sanjiv Gray, bariatric surgeon with Lakeland Regional Health’s Institute for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and Medicine.
“It’s not just about weight loss for us. It’s about improving the patient’s life.”