 Recent studies have shown that bacteria within the gut play an important role in diabetes improvement after bariatric weight-loss surgery. Bariatric surgery fundamentally changes the environment within the gut, which results in changes to the makeup of the trillions of bacteria living within it. These changes in the gut bacteria can affect the body in a number of complex ways, which we are only just beginning to understand. For example, gut bacteria breakdown food we are unable to absorb ourselves, leading to altered sugar levels and can release molecules that act to reduce appetite. 