By Anne Harding (Reuters Health) – Weight-loss surgery beats medication for controlling type 2 diabetes in obese people, according to the longest-term trial ever to compare the two approaches. Half of the patients treated with weight-loss surgery in the study were diabetes-free at five years, said Dr. Francesco Rubino of Kings College London in the UK and colleagues in a report in The Lancet. “The fact that some patients at five years are basically disease-free is a remarkable finding.” In 2009, he and his colleagues randomly assigned 20 obese patients with type 2 diabetes to receive medical treatment, 20 to receive a type of weight-loss surgery called a gastric bypass, and another 20 to undergo a weight-loss operation called a biliopancreatic diversion.

Offering a closer look at the link between wealth and well-being in one of the less equal advanced economies, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) study showed Britons’ life satisfaction, sense of worth and happiness increased with household wealth. The size of assets such as bank accounts, shares, and children’s’ savings – which together comprise net household financial wealth – are most strongly related to personal well-being, the study showed. Physical possessions like cars, art and antiques tended to increase life satisfaction among the wealthiest fifth, but otherwise had little effect.