People with this condition suffer from recurrent episodes of altered mood and cognitive dysfunction, often accompanied by weakness and adrenergic symptoms such as shakiness.
The principal treatments recommended are extra small meals or snacks and avoidance of excessive simple sugars.
[citation needed] The term idiopathic postprandial syndrome, which literally means a syndrome that occurs after eating (postprandial) and is of unknown cause (idiopathic), was coined in an attempt to reserve the term hypoglycemia for those conditions in which low glucose levels could be demonstrated.
The syndrome resembles reactive hypoglycemia except that low glucose is not found at the time of symptoms.
The common usage of the term "hypoglycemia" was noted and countered by doctors writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association in the 1970s: The author said "a cult has developed, consisting of a believing public aided and abetted by 'nutritionists', medical journalists, and a host of physicians."