I typically seek the advice of with obese sufferers who’re contemplating bariatric (weight reduction) surgical procedure. For some people, the necessity to take particular vitamin and mineral dietary supplements for the remainder of their lives shouldn’t be a straightforward to tablet to swallow. To not achieve this, nonetheless, places them in danger for severe nutrient deficiencies.
Nonetheless, some sufferers balk at having to take so many tablets on schedule … eternally. That had led at the least one doctor in our space to advocate for a pores and skin patch to ship mandatory nutritional vitamins and minerals.
Nice concept, however how nicely do they work?
A couple of vitamins resembling nutritional vitamins C and E in some magnificence lotions might be absorbed into the pores and skin, although in restricted quantities. These “topical” ointments are solely pores and skin deep, nonetheless.
Sufferers who’ve undergone gastric bypass surgical procedure have had the higher a part of their abdomen disconnected and rerouted to their small gut. Along with making it laborious to eat a lot (therefore, the fast weight reduction) this process limits the physique’s capability to soak up sure vitamins. That’s why these sufferers want an efficient solution to obtain additional nutritional vitamins and minerals into the physique.
Sadly, there are few human research to help the unique use of pores and skin patches for the varieties of nutritional vitamins wanted by gastric bypass sufferers. One small research on individuals who had this surgical procedure in contrast those that used a vitamin pores and skin patch with others who chewed and swallowed vitamin tablets.
Individuals are additionally studying…
After one yr, 82% of those that used the pores and skin patch have been missing in a number of vitamins in comparison with 40% within the capsule group. Total, the researchers famous that those that used a pores and skin patch had considerably decrease blood concentrations of nutritional vitamins D, B1 and B12 than sufferers who swallowed tablets.
Iron and calcium are different vitamins sorely wanted by sufferers after they’ve gastric bypass surgical procedure. Can these minerals successfully attain the bloodstream and their desired vacation spot within the physique by way of a pores and skin patch?
It could positive be nice if they may, however we nonetheless don’t know for positive. Some animal research have proven promise with using specifically handled patches to assist the pores and skin higher soak up vitamins however once more, information is proscribed in folks.
Extra research on people are underway, so we must always know extra quickly. Within the meantime, I’d recommend the tried-and-true strategies to get important vitamins into our our bodies. Select meals that present important vitamins with every chunk. And chew your meals nicely, as this helps make vitamins extra accessible in your physique to make use of.
Till now we have extra info, I’d say the perfect guess after abdomen surgical procedure is to swallow chewable or liquid types of the extra nutritional vitamins and minerals wanted.
Barbara Quinn-Intermill is a registered dietitian. E mail her at barbara@quinnessentialnutrition.com.
