Category Archives: Nutrition

Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Outcomes at 3 Years

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A prospective study (TH Inge et al. NEJM 2016; 374: 113-23) with 242 adolescents from five U.S. centers provides data on outcomes at 3 years. Here’s the scoop:

  • At baseline, mean age was 17 years, 75% were female, 72% were white, and mean BMI was 53.

At 3 years:

  • Mean weight decreased 27% (similar results for gastric bypass and gastric sleeve)
  • 95% had remission of type 2 diabetes (of those with diabetes at baseline)
  • 86% had remission in abnormal kidney function (of those with diabetes at baseline)
  • 74% had remission in elevated blood pressure (of those with diabetes at baseline)

lonnnngg Table 4 details the serious complications:

  • 13% of the participants (n=30, 47 procedures) had undergone additional abdominal procedures. While most of these were related to the procedure, a good number may have occurred regardlessly (eg. 18 cholecystectomies, 2 appendectomies)
  • 13% (n=29) also underwent endoscopic procedures including 9 who needed stricture dilatation.

The most common nutrient deficiency at followup was iron deficiency.  57% had low ferritin levels at 3 years compared with 5% at baseline.  Vitamin B12 deficiency was common; it declined by 35% and 8% had a deficiency at 3 years.  Vitamin A deficiencies increased (16% at 3 years). My take: this study documents the durability of weight loss and its beneficial effects on a multitude of problems.  It also shows that careful followup is needed for nutrient deficiencies and the risks of adverse events. Related blog posts:

Weight Gain in Preemies, Neurodevelopmental Outcomes, and Reverse Causation

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Since a trial which randomizes premature infants into groups that are well-nourished and poorly-nourished and then following them prospectively is never going to happen, it is difficult to know with certainty the effects of optimal nutrition are with respect to long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.

An article I enjoyed reading on this subject (MB Belfort et al. J Pediatr 2016; 168: 30-5) pushes back on the correlation between good weight gain, as a surrogate marker for nutritional status, and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

In this study, 1070 infants between 23-27 weeks gestational age were followed with weights on days 7-28 along with weights at 12 and 24 months.  This data was compared with several indices on neurodevelopmental outcome.  Here is the key finding:  “Weight gain in the lowest quartile from 7-28 days was not associated with higher risk of adverse outcomes.”

In commentary on their findings, the authors point out that “we found no evidence to suggest that faster weight gain from 7 to 28 days of life reduced the risk of adverse outcomes…almost all of the associations between low weight gain..were attenuated or eliminated when we restricted our analysis to those children able to walk independently.”

“Overall, it appears that low weight in children with severe neurodevelopmental impairments may be caused by factors closely related to the impairments themselves…reverse causation may be at play.” Thus, underlying brain damage may limit body weight gain, rather than poor nutrition limiting brain development.”

My take: I may be apt to ‘confirmational bias’ as this study reinforces my view that improved nutrition may not change outcomes appreciably.  To be clear, I still believe that efforts to optimize the nutrition of premature infants are a good idea but we need to be skeptical about the magnitude of benefit that we will derive.

Related blog posts:

A Few Years Ago in Yosemite

A Few Years Ago in Yosemite

“A Healthy Diet’s Main Ingredient? Best Guesses”

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A recent commentary from the NY Times (A Healthy Diet’s Main Ingredients? Best Guesses) explores some of the failed efforts to improve health by reducing fat or eliminating eggs and explains why these are no longer recommended.  The article has a 12 minute video which reviews some of the confusion regarding dietary recommendations.

Here’s an excerpt:

Conventional wisdom held that fat was bad, period, with relatively few Americans distinguishing between saturated fats (meat, eggs, dairy products) and healthier unsaturated fats (fish, vegetable oils, nuts). Typically, people turned to breads, cereals and potatoes — and to sugary soft drinks — for the calories they no longer got from protein-rich foods…The result? Carbo-loading Americans grew fatter. “We put the whole country on a low-fat diet,” Mr. Taubes said, “and, lo and behold, we have an obesity epidemic.”…

New guidelines are expected to be issued this month by the Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services, which tend to follow the recommendations of an advisory committee. One likely eye-catcher is a new assessment of cholesterol, long an archvillain. It seems destined for rehabilitation to some degree. Months ago, the advisory committee concluded that the dietary intake of cholesterol (the body produces this waxy, artery-obstructing matter on its own) had no real effect on blood levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol. “Cholesterol,” the committee said, “is not a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.”

There is a conspicuous American tendency to cling to a favored diet as the gateway to good health, keeping weight down, staving off cancers and banishing heart attacks. A consequence is an abundance of regimens — vegan, gluten-free, Paleolithic, fruitarian and many more — each promoted by its adherents as the one true path.

But nutrition experts, including those in this Retro Report, caution that life is complex, and that we are more than what we eat.

Related blog posts:

Eating the Right Foods and Weight Loss

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In a recent NY Times article, Rethinking Weight Loss and the Reasons We’re ‘Always Hungry’, the idea that too many calories causes obesity is challenged:

“…overeating doesn’t make you fat. The process of getting fat makes you overeat.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Dr. Ludwig, an obesity expert and professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, argues that weight gain begins when people eat the wrong types of food, which throws their hormones out of whack and sets off a cycle of cravings, hunger and bingeing. In his new book, “Always Hungry?,” he argues that the primary driver of obesity today is not an excess of calories per se, but an excess of high glycemic foods like sugar, refined grains and other processed carbohydrates…

Simply cutting back on calories as we’ve been told actually makes the situation worse. When we cut back on calories, our body responds by increasing hunger and slowing metabolism. It responds in an effort to save calories…

It’s the low fat, very high carbohydrate diet that we’ve been eating for the last 40 years, which raises levels of the hormone insulin and programs fat cells to go into calorie storage overdrive.

My take: The idea of changing the types of foods that we consume is not new in the fight against excessive weight gain.  Some of the best data on healthy eating is associated with the Mediterranean diet.

Related blog posts:

Another review (from the NY Times) of the book ‘Happy Gut’ describes a diet promoted by a NY internist to help with problems like irritable bowel: Seeking a ‘Happy Gut’ for Better Health. “Cutting out dairy and gluten reversed many of his symptoms. Replacing processed foods with organic meats, fresh vegetables and fermented foods gave him more energy and settled his sensitive stomach.”

Banning Mills

Banning Mills

 

Continuous Feeds versus Bolus Feeds

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Briefly noted:

Another study (JB van Goudoever et al. JPGN 2015; 61: 659-64) indicates that bolus feeds are likely as safe as continuous feeds in preterm infants; though, the “continuous” feeding was atypical.  In this study, the bolus group received their feedings every 3 hours via gravity whereas the “continuous” feeding cohort received feedings by gravity by giving one-fourth of the hourly feeding every 15 minutes.

Key finding: In a study of 246 infants (<1750 g & <32 weeks gestational  age), there was no significant difference in reaching full enteral feedings between the group assigned to continuous feedings compared with bolus feedings

Related blog post:  Which is Safer -Drip Feeds or Bolus Feeds in Healthy Preterm …

 

“Eternal Nutrition” Therapy

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NASPGHAN twitter feed (with links to enteral therapy podcasts) was probably a typo &/or autocorrect issue:

“Podcast series must! Eternal Nutrition as Primary Therapy for Crohn’s disease. ”

Related blog posts:

My Favorite Posts 2015

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I want to thank all of those who have provided input to this blog this year.  Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2016.

Here’s my list of favorite posts in the past year:

On being a doctor:

Nutrition posts:

Gastroenterology posts:

IBD posts:

Liver posts:

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Popular Posts 2015

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Today and tomorrow I am posting the most popular posts and my personal favorite posts from 2015.  I am labeling the most popular posts as those posts that had the highest number of visits in the past year.

Most popular posts:

Shem Creek, SC

Shem Creek, SC

Should Teenagers with Severe NAFLD Undergo Bariatric Surgery?

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A recent commentary (Stavra A. Xanthakos and Jeffrey B. Schwimmer. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015 Jun; 12(6): 316–318.) discusses the role of bariatric surgery for teenagers with severe nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  Full text Link: On a knife-edge—weight-loss surgery for NAFLD in adolescents.

Here’s an excerpt:

Abstract: A new position statement from Europe endorses expert-based recommendations to consider bariatric surgery as a treatment for severe NAFLD in severely obese adolescents. This article discusses the problem of severe paediatric obesity, its relationship with NAFLD, and the knowledge and needs regarding bariatric surgery in adolescents… it is critical that adolescents with NAFLD undergoing bariatric surgery be evaluated and managed in bariatric surgery centres with appropriate paediatric multidisciplinary expertise and a commitment to rigorously phenotype NAFLD histology at baseline and to follow outcomes prospectively as long as possible. These procedures can be particularly challenging in adolescents, who are prone to relocate in adulthood and thus might not return for follow-up. High quality prospective multicentre studies with low attrition rates, such as the Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (USA) and the Adolescent Morbid Obesity Study (Sweden) have begun to provide short to intermediate term (1–2 year) outcomes after adolescent bariatric surgery, but do not include prospectively collected data on histological liver outcomes to support evidence-based recommendations regarding NASH as a specific indication for bariatric surgery. However, given the benefits that are emerging for type 2 diabetes and sleep apnoea, (which are comorbid conditions often associated with NASH), we concur with previously published expert guidelines that conclude that bariatric surgery is not contraindicated in a non-cirrhotic patient with NAFLD who otherwise meets appropriate medical and psychosocial criteria for bariatric surgery.2 The adolescent and family should, however, be counselled that a positive outcome with respect to NAFLD is, as yet, not a foregone conclusion.

Related blog posts:

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