New look at nutritional care for obese patient candidates for bariatric surgery

Background: The combination of preoperative deficiencies and the restrictions and malabsorption possibly induced by bariatric surgery could lead patients to experience important nutritional deficits during the late postoperative period. Our objective was to characterize the eating, anthropometric, and biochemical profiles of obese candidates for bariatric surgery at a bariatric surgery center of a university hospital. Methods: A retrospective study with the analysis of medical records of candidates for bariatric surgery from 2007 to 2008 was performed. A total of 80 adult patients, aged 45 +/- 11 years, were included in the present study. Results: The mean patient weight was 145 +/- 24 kg, and the mean body mass index was 54 +/- 8 kg/m(2). Of the 80 patients, 78% had >= 1 co-morbidities related to obesity. The reported daily energy intake before surgery was 1981 +/- 882 kcal, with 48% +/- 11% consisting of carbohydrate, 29% +/- 8% of lipids, and 23% +/- 8% of protein. The mean number of daily meals was 4 +/- 1. Patients with a greater body mass index ingested a smaller amount of calories per kilogram of current weight. The occurrence of hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, and dyslipidemia and of nutritional deficiencies, among them magnesium (19%), vitamin A (15%), vitamin C (16%), iron (9%), beta-carotene (3%), and vitamin B-12 (3%), was high. Conclusion: The high occurrence of micronutrient deficiency detected by biochemical analysis in morbidly obese candidates for bariatric surgery, representing a disabsorptive process, might involve a poorer prognosis during the late postoperative period. A preoperative evaluation of the nutritional parameters and the food intake pattern is recommended for these patients, together with the necessary interventions. (Surg Obes Relat Dis 2013;9:520-525.) (C) 2013 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. All rights reserved.