Did you know that vitamin & mineral supplementation typically begins at the time of discharge from the hospital, usually 2–4 days after surgery? Any idea what the must-have vitamins and minerals are for your body? What about when to take them and how much to take? The right supplementation is so important to your success.
Hi, I’m registered dietitian nutritionist Dr. Susan Mitchell. You’re listening to the Bariatric Surgery Success podcast episode number 53. Most of my career I’ve worked in some type of media, particularly radio where I did morning drive nutrition spots for over 18 years. That’s what lead me to start podcasting and ultimately to you. I created Bariatric Surgery Success to provide you with life-changing information based on science along with simple strategies and tools to help you be successful in your transformation and your entire journey. So happy you’ve connected with me. You’re in the right place and I’m glad you’re listening.
Let’s get right to it…
Vitamin and mineral supplementation is a lifelong part of bariatric surgery. When you have weight loss surgery, vitamin and mineral supplementation is one of those items that will be on your daily to-do list from now on. Call it a behavior modification, lifestyle change or a tweak to your daily routine. However you look at it, supplements are part of your new lifelong strategy for success.
Nutritional deficiencies are common after weight loss surgery and the type of surgery performed does make a difference. For example, vitamin and mineral deficiencies are more common after procedures like Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion as compared to sleeve gastrectomy and adjustable gastric banding. That’s why you always hear me say to circle back with your health care team for clarity if you’re unsure about which supplements they recommend for your procedure. Recommendations vary between surgical centers and even professionals groups so don’t be surprised if your supplements suggestions are different from someone else you know who’s had surgery.
Let’s start with three important tips to keep in mind:
1. As I mentioned at the start of the podcast, vitamin & mineral supplementation usually begins when you go home from the hospital which is typically 2–4 days after surgery. So if you’ve had surgery and are home now, you should have started on supplements. We’ll talk about which ones in a minute.
2. Your body has changed in it’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. How much it’s changed depends on the surgical procedure. When selecting your products, chewable or suckable pills, or liquids are a really good idea the first 3-6 months. Then if you choose and your health care provider doesn’t have you on any specific regimen, you can switch to capsules or tablets.
3. Routine vitamin and mineral screenings/lab tests should be part of your care from your health care team. How often and what they screen for will vary with your procedure.
A lot has changed in the vitamin-mineral world. In the not-to-distant past, bariatric-specific supplements weren’t common so we combined various over-the-counter products to get what we needed. Today, many companies provide a wide variety of bariatric supplements. In fact, there so many to choose from, it’s easy to become overwhelmed or unclear about which ones to take. You’ll need to do some label sleuthing and I’ll show you how.
So which supplements do you need? Let’s dig into the general suggestions for bariatric surgery knowing that your health care team may tweak these. Today, in part 1, we’ll talk about multivitamin and mineral supplements along with vitamin B-12.  In part 2, we’ll cover iron, calcium and vitamin D and thiamine.
First on the list. Take a complete multivitamin plus mineral supplement that is bariatric specific. What the heck does that mean? Complete means it contains the typical A-Z formulation of vitamins and minerals similar to what you find in an adult supplement but in amounts recommended for bariatr