Bypassing medicine to treat diabetes

By altering the gut's production of hormones, gastric bypass surgery may be able to eliminate type 2 diabetes. But scientists worry that this radical operation can also cause dangerously low blood sugar. Now, endocrinologists are beginning to pay close attention to the effects of gastric bypass surgery, which had long been a backwater of medicine. They are finding that the surgery's rerouting of the intestines and closing off of much of the stomach appears to have drastic effects on gut hormones and disease, independent of the weight loss that accompanies it. These effects can also have dire consequences. Scientists began seeing patients with some alarming symptoms, confusion, abnormal behavior, seizures, and unconsciousness. In each case, the culprit was a low level of blood sugar that struck after eating.