THE REGULATION OF BLOOD SUGAR IN IDIOPATHIC STEATORRHEA (SPRUE AND GEE-HERTER'S DISEASE)

Abstract

The numerous investigations of the rise of blood sugar in the alimentary tract that have been carried out since the introduction of the micromethod for the determination of blood sugar have aimed chiefly to settle the borderline between the normal and the increased rise of blood sugar. The lack of rise or the small rise in blood sugar, the low blood sugar curve, on the other hand, has not attracted any particular attention. In the past year we have had occasion to investigate some instances of the low blood sugar curve. We believe it appropriate to call attention to these curves as constituting a somewhat overlooked phenomenon in the study of the regulation of blood sugar. We have found the low blood sugar curve most frequently present in one definite group of lesions, the idiopathic steatorrheas. Our examinations of the blood sugar curve after ingestion of dextrose were made as