A new study, Beta Cell Restoration through Fat Mitigation, or BetaFat, followed patients with mild to moderate obesity and either prediabetes or new-onset type 2 diabetes. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either a gastric banding procedure, which places a band around the upper part of the stomach to slow digestion, or the medication metformin. The patients had similar outcomes in blood sugar control after two years, and the bariatric patients lost more weight. Read more