Gastric Sleeve patients benefit from specialized supplements
Gastric Sleeve patients benefit from specialized supplements
Do specialized bariatric multivitamins lower deficiencies after Sleeve Gastrectomy?
Nutritional deficiencies are common after a Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG), making lifelong supplementation an important recommendation. However, standard multivitamin supplements (sMVS) are proven to be ineffective in the prevention of nutritional deficiencies. Therefore, FitForMe developed WLS Optimum, specifically for SG patients. In a retrospective analysis including 970 SG patients, the effectiveness of WLS Optimum on deficiency prevention was compared to a sMVS for a period of five years.
Serum blood values of WLS Optimum versus standard food supplements
During the study, patients were free to purchase the supplement of their choice: either the specialized multivitamin WLS Optimum (291 patients) or sMVS (679 patients). Serum blood values of the most common deficiencies were determined preoperatively, at 6 months and 1, 2, 3 and 4 years after surgery.
WLS Optimum effectively prevents development of deficiencies
This study found that usage of WLS Optimum resulted in higher mean blood serum concentrations and less de novo deficiencies for vitamin B1, folic acid and vitamin B12. Overall, the number of patients having one or more deficiencies was significantly lower among WLS Optimum users, compared to sMVS users. On the contrary, hypervitaminosis for vitamin B6 was significantly more prominent with WLS Optimum versus sMVS, whereas lower Hb levels were observed.
This were the significant differences in de novo deficiencies for both groups:
| Nutrient | Months of follow-up | WLS Optimum users | sMVS users |
|---|---|---|---|
| HB | 24 | 20,3% | 9,4% |
| 36 | 18,8% | 2,9% | |
| Vitamin B1 | 24 | 0,7% | 6,0% |
| Vitamin B6 (hyper) | 12 | 51,1% | 39,9% |
| 24 | 45% | 40,1% | |
| Folic Acid | 12 | 0% | 4,6% |
| 24 | 0,5% | 8,5% | |
| Vitamin B12 | 12 | 3,0% | 7,5% |
Tailored, optimized food supplements after a Gastric Sleeve
This study shows that Gastric Sleeve patients should not only use food supplements on the long term to prevent deficiencies, but could benefit even more from the specialized WLS Optimum. During the finalization of this study, based on preliminary results, WLS Optimum was optimized: FitForMe increased the dosage of iron and decreased the vitamin B6 dosage, among other changes.
Reference:
Smelt, H.J.M., van Loon, S., Pouwels, S. et al. OBES SURG (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-019-04191-x
Link to full text: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11695-019-04191-x
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