Vitamin Supplementation After Bariatric Surgery

Vitamins are essential for normal functioning of our body. Along the vitamins, minerals are also required in the right amount for the body to perform its essential functions and immunity. Not only that, it has been found that right amount of vitamins and minerals also aid in such essential functions like hunger, nutrient absorption, metabolism of sugar and fat, energy storage etc. It must be emphasized that all these functions have direct implications on your obesity level.

What happens after Bariatric Surgery?

Generally after bariatric procedures, vitamin availability to the body is greatly reduced due to the following reasons.

• The restrictive procedure (less area of stomach) has put a cap on the quantity of food available to the body. As a result only limited vitamin is available in the limited food consumed. Hence the deficiency of vitamins. This factor is responsible for vitamin deficiency in restrictive bariatric surgery procedures like Lap Band and Gastric Sleeve.
• The malabsorption (the bypass of parts of small intestine) severely restricts the vitamin absorbing capacity of the body. It must be noted that most vitamins, minerals and micronutrients are absorbed in the duodenum and jejunum parts of the small intestine which is bypassed in Gastric bypass and Duodenal Switch procedures.

Thus it has to be kept in mind that an individual who undergoes any of the bariatric procedure has a reduced capacity to absorb vitamin. Since vitamins, minerals, along with other micronutrients are essential for the normal functioning of the body, it becomes imperative to take vitamin supplementation for life time.

Generally multivitamin supplementation is recommended after the bariatric surgery for lifetime. People who have undergone restrictive procedures like Lap Band or Gastric Sleeve are recommended 100% of normal recommended value of vitamins. Obese individual who have undergone malabsoprtion procedures like Gastric Bypass or Duodenal Switch are recommended 200% of normal recommended value of vitamins. Special emphasize is mainly for vitamin B12, Iron and Calcium.

So if you have undergone a bariatric procedure, never skip vitamin supplementations for life. Make it a mandate in your diet plan.