Surgical patients were able to discontinue all of their diabetes medications by the study's end, but the dieters reduced their medication use by 55 percent, Korner reported.

The researchers found significant improvements in the surgery group in measures of insulin sensitivity and function of beta cells, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Improvements in insulin sensitivity in the low-calorie diet group was not statistically significant and beta cell function improved to a lesser extent.

Korner speculated that hormonal changes may be responsible for the improvements resulting from Roux-en-Y surgery in individuals with Type 2 diabetes.

"It will be important to understand how surgery works to produce these results so that we can develop medical therapies of equivalent efficacy," she said.

Source: The Endocrine Society