It was found that 94% of patients before obesity metabolic surgery were deficient in vitamin D. If the overall nutrient intake is reduced after surgery, the deficiency may become more severe, so caution is required.
Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Surgery Prof. Young-Seok Park’s research team revealed on the 6th that this was the result of a nutrient deficiency study before obesity metabolic surgery, which was the first in Korea.
Obesity metabolic surgery is a treatment that limits the absorption of nutrients such as food and sugars into the body through’gastric sleeve resection’, which reduces the size of the stomach. It is also known as’diabetes surgery’ because it has excellent effect of controlling blood sugar as well as losing weight. It was covered by health insurance in 2019.
When undergoing obesity metabolic surgery, the intake and absorption of nutrients decreases overall. Therefore, you must be careful not to deplete essential nutrients such as vitamins and iron in the body. In particular, it is necessary to prepare in advance because the deficiency of nutrients, which was lacking before surgery, may become more severe after surgery.
However, there were no studies on the nutritional status of Korean obesity metabolic surgery patients before and after surgery, so it was difficult to establish standard guidelines.
Accordingly, the research team investigated the nutrient deficiency status of patients before surgery through data of 215 patients who underwent obesity metabolic surgery at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in 2019.
As a result, 94% of obesity metabolic surgery patients were found to be deficient in vitamin D. 80% were’deficient’ of vitamin D, and 14% were’insufficient’.
After vitamin D, vitamin B1 (18.3%), folic acid (14.2%), iron (11.8%), and zinc (7.6%) were in order.
Vitamin D deficiency can lead to decreased bone density. The risk of fracture increases when the body weight and muscle mass are decreased after surgery, and the bone density decreases. It is also likely to affect the onset of chronic cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction.
The research team expected that the results of this study will be an important basis for preparing standard nutritional management guidelines for Koreans before and after surgery, as it is necessary to check for nutrient deficiency before surgery and supplement them.
Professor Young-Seok Park said, “Although obese patients are perceived as overnutrition, they are less physically active and have a lot of deficient nutrients due to skewed eating habits.” “We can achieve our goal of losing weight and reducing blood sugar.”
The study was published in’Obesity Surgery’, an SCI-level international academic journal of the World Federation of Obesity Metabolism and Surgery.