Amino Acid Levels Reduced by Gastric Bypass

Findings published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine suggests that gastric bypass may reduce amino acid levels circulating in the blood. The result is remission in patients with Type 2 diabetes.   According to Reuters, research conducted at Columbia University and Duke University studied two groups of severely overweight diabetics who either underwent gastric bypass or went on strict diets.   Unlike dieting, gastric bypass was found to alter a person’s metabolism and thereby reduce the number of circulating amino acids. Amino acids are linked to diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance.   According to NPR, the study published in Science Translational Medicine is part of a growing trend aimed at decoding the metabolic profiles of patients with diabetes. According to a report published in Nature Medicine last month, individuals with higher levels of branched-chain amino acid in their blood are far more likely to develop diabetes later in life.