Dr. Diego Bohórquez

One third of that will be cut, and then that portion will be reconnected to the stomach, meaning that you're short-circuiting the gut.

And the whole idea was, at the very beginning, was like, well, if we reduce the surface that is exposed to food, then we can reduce body weight by the simply...

Reduction of surface that is exposed to the food that is absorbed, right?

And what it became very clear is that well before the body weight changes got taken place, there was already like some dramatic changes in physiology, like the hormones, the neuropeptides that were released from the intestine in response to nutrients, you know, will change very rapidly.

Then, as I mentioned, the food choices will change, diabetes will be resolved.

So then it became obvious that it was not necessarily just the reduction in the surface of the gut.

So that's one of the main surgeries.

The other one, as I understand, is vertical sleeve gastrectomy.

And this vertical sleeve gastrectomy is simply a reduction in the size of the stomach.

So now the stomach is very tiny, and the idea is that it will accumulate less, it could hold less food, and then the food will go very rapidly into the intestine.

And what is becoming very obvious is that there is a rapid change in the sensory function of the gastrointestinal tract.

So the gut seems to rapidly shift, perhaps become more, so to speak in general terms, more sensitive to the presence of nutrients, right?

So two contextual pieces of information.

So I remember leaving that dinner and I was like, whoa, this is major.

Like I'm sure that people have written about this or done research.

And I realized that it was very little was known.

Even gastroenterologists knew very little about this.

The first clinical report that the alteration in food choices

was common in these patients came out, I believe, in 2011.

And then later on, scientists replicated that even in rats or in mice.