New complication of gastric bypass surgery

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study reveals that low blood sugar can be a rare, but very significant, complication of gastric bypass surgery.
While weight loss surgery is beneficial in terms of health, it is not without some risk. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and colleagues elsewhere now report on a dramatic fall in blood sugar found in three patients after gastric bypass surgery. The three became confused, and developed a tendency to black out. In two cases, the symptoms caused car collisions.

The researchers think that, in these rare cases, hormonal status is profoundly altered by weight loss surgery. Insulin then floods the body and leads to very severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). There may be other abnormalities - such as in hormones like glucagon - in response to food intake after weight loss surgery. Interestingly, the researchers believe that further study of this complication may lead to new understanding of diabetes. For gastric bypass patients acquire what diabetics lack - an adequacy (or even excess) of insulin.

Source
Diabetologia October 2005

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