Iron, vitamins, calcium… Nutritional deficiencies are frequent and significant in obese people.
- Nutritional deficiencies in iron, calcium and vitamin D are common in overweight or obese children.
- In obese people, the use of bariatric surgery is synonymous with programmed malnutrition.
It may come as a surprise, but nutritional deficiencies are frequent and significant in obese people. “In children who have an appetite for products with a high energy density, we very often observe underlying nutritional deficiencies despite the excess energy consumption. The most common nutritional deficiencies are iron deficiencies, vitamin D deficiencies as well as calcium and other vitamins B12, C”explains Professor Béatrice Dubern, gastro-pediatrician in the pediatric nutrition and gastroenterology department of the Armand-Trousseau* children’s hospital.
Too much and poorly fed
In adults with obesity, the person is overfed and undernourished. Before the implementation of any bariatric surgery (about 60,000 operations in France each year), “the rule is to look for all the deficiencies (iron, vitamin D, vitamins 12, B1, B9) and to refeed the patient correctly to correct his deficiencies before the operation. After bariatric surgery, the same deficiencies are found and are increased because certain foods are less well absorbed.explains Claire Carette, nutritionist and diabetologist at the European Hospital Georges-Pompidou (HEGP). According to a Taiwanese study, bariatric surgery increases the risk of fracture. There is an important issue on the maintenance of vitamin D and calcium intake to avoid this risk”she continues.
Consequences on the organism
Iron and vitamin D deficiencies can have significant consequences on the body: anemia, increased risk of infections, neurocognitive development abnormalities, hypovitaminosis D or liver damage (NASH). The main sources of iron are meat and fish, supplemented with pulses. Vitamin D is available in fatty fish, eggs and full-fat dairy products.
The latest projections from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that at least one in three adults worldwide are overweight and almost one in ten are obese. An even more critical situation in children, where there are more than 40 million individuals under 5 years old with excessive weight.
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