Today, I would like to kowtow to my friend and colleague Dr Priya Manjoo, endocrinologist at the University of Victoria, who gave a fantastic talk about nutritional support of the bariatric patient at the Canadian Obesity Summit.
I’ll highlight a few of the key points here:
1. Prior to obesity surgery, many patients are already often deficient in nutrients; for example, one study showed that 65% of patients were deficient in vitamin D before surgery, and 27% were deficient in iron. Therefore, it is imperative that these levels be checked and corrected before surgery is undertaken.
2. Following obesity surgery, there are a number of reasons why nutritional deficiencies can occur, including insufficient intake due to dietary restrictions and food intolerances, anatomical causes due to changes made in the intestinal anatomy, and a disconnect between the timing of release of digestive enzymes and entry of food into the intestine.