Dr. Francesco Rubino of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center said rerouting the gastrointestinal tract through gastric bypass can cause diabetes remission independent of any weight loss, even in subjects who are not obese.,

The findings are published in the journal Diabetes Care, the medical center said Wednesday in a news release.

Rubino, chief of gastrointestinal metabolic surgery, said gastrointestinal bypass procedures control diabetes by bypassing the upper small intestine -- the duodenum and jejunum. "It should not surprise anyone that surgically altering the bowel's anatomy affects the mechanisms that regulate blood sugar levels, eventually influencing diabetes," Rubino said in a statement.

He said the operation may work by reversing abnormalities of blood glucose regulation.