Metabolism

Metabolism is defined as the various biochemical processes that take place in any living being including human beings for maintaining life. Due to these biochemical processes any organism is allowed to grow, reproduce, repair damaged tissues and cells and respond to the external environment. There are two types of metabolic reactions that take place in the human body: anabolism, also known as constructive metabolism and catabolism, also known as destructive metabolism. Anabolism is a process in which chemical reactions occur to produce a complex compound from smaller components, usually consuming energy in the process. Catabolism is a process in which chemical reactions occur to break down a complex compound into smaller components and usually releases energy in the process. Anabolism, also referred to as biosynthesis helps the body to grow and make new cells. An example of anabolic reaction is bone growth and mineralization. During a catabolic reaction, larger molecules or polymers are broken down to form monomers. An example of a catabolic reaction is break down of complex carbohydrates such as starch into simple carbohydrates such as glucose.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is one of the eight B vitamins; it is a water soluble vitamin and also called cobalamin. It is worth noting that vitamin B12 is the largest and structurally the most complex vitamin. Vitamin B12 deficiency can have serious consequences if it is ignored for long periods of time.

Vitamin Supplements and Medications

We strongly encourage a healthy balance diet after bariatric surgery. Even with a balanced diet, it is difficult to consume enough variety to ensure that you are meeting all of the recommended amounts of each vitamin regularly.

What is the percentage of patients that gain their weight back?

A majority of patients will regain some weight after a bariatric surgical procedure. The amount regained ranges between a few pounds and all of the weight lost during the operation. The amount of weight regained after the operation is dependent on many factors and this is one of the reasons why so much stress and attention is made to the importance of a healthy lifestyle during the pre-op and post-surgical period.

For laparoscopic gastric bypass, long term weight loss after gastric bypass is suggested to be approximately 60-70% of your excess body weight at 2 years, and 45-50% of your excess

Omentum

The omentum is a membranous double layer of fatty tissue that covers and supports the intestines and organs in the lower abdominal area. The omentum is made up of the greater omentum which is an important storage for fat deposits and the lesser omentum which connects the stomach and intestines to the liver. Milky spots on the greater omentum contain white blood cells that assist immunity by removing cellular debris.

Duodenum

The duodenum lies at the beginning of the small intestine. Together with the jejunum, and the ileum it forms the small intestine. It is connected to the stomach above and the jejunum below it. When food enters the duodenum, there are multiple feed-back pathways and nervous reflexes that will affect how fast the stomach empties as well as the secretion of other hormones.

Pregnancy After Bariatric Surgery

There are various recommendations regarding the timing of planned pregnancy after weight loss surgery which are based on a theoretical understanding of what occurs after the operation. A truly controlled scientific study evaluating the risk and benefit of pregnancy after surgical weight loss is difficult to design. We employ a common sense approach based on surgical literature as well as an understanding of the changes that occur after surgical operations for weight loss.