Nutritional alterations after very low-calorie diet before bariatric surgery.
BACKGROUND
There has been an alarming worldwide increase of obese people in recent years. Currently, there is no consensus on whether patients that are scheduled to undergo bariatric surgery should lose weight before the intervention. The objective of this research is to analyse the influence of pre-surgery loss of weight in the nutritional parameters of patients.


METHODS
Fifty patients that were scheduled to undergo bariatric surgery followed a very low caloric diet during 4 weeks prior to the surgery. The nutritional parameters were analysed at 3 specific moments: before starting the diet, at the moment of surgery (when the diet was concluded) and one month after the surgery.


RESULTS
Average values for hemoglobin, albumina and lymphocytes were kept within the range of normal values at all moments, even though the decrease of those parameters was statistically significant throughout the study (P<.05). By following the very low caloric diet, less than 9.5% of the sample suffered anaemia.


CONCLUSIONS
Loss of weight prior to surgery does not have a significant influence in the nutritional parameters of the patient. These results would support the indication of losing weight for patients that are considered candidates for bariatric surgery.
Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital General Universitario de Castellón, Castellón, España. Electronic address: marianbennasarremolar@gmail.com.
M Ángeles
MÁ
Bennasar Remolar
Servicio de Cirugía General, Hospital General Universitario de Castellón, Castellón, España.
David
D
Martínez Ramos
Servicio de Cirugía General, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia, Valencia, España.
Joaquín
J
Ortega Serrano
Servicio de Cirugía General, Hospital General Universitario de Castellón, Castellón, España.
José Luis
JL
Salvador Sanchís
D050110:Bariatric Surgery; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D006801:Humans; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss
Bariatric surgery; Cirugía bariátrica; Nutritional parameters; Parámetros nutricionales; Pre-surgery loss of weight; Pérdida de peso preoperatoria