You may already know that gastric patients need to take vitamin and mineral supplements because they do not absorb nutrients normally after their operations. But with so many multivitamins on the market, which ones are adequate and which ones should be avoided? The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) has issued specific guidelines detailing what gastric bypass patients need in a multivitamin, and when evaluating some common vitamins by those standards, I’ve found a few that gastric bypass patients should be sure to avoid. They just don’t provide the nutrients gastric bypass patients need.
Flintstones Complete Chewables
For some reason that I do not understand, some bariatric surgeons and nutritionists recommend Flintstones Complete chewable vitamins for gastric bypass patients. The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery specifically advises gastric bypass patients to avoid children’s vitamins that are incomplete and to select a multivitamin that contains minerals such as selenium, and Flintstones Complete formula, despite the word “Complete” on the label, is not a complete multivitamin and does not contain selenium. Flintstones Complete formula is missing some key nutrients, contains low levels of others and contains forms of some nutrients that gastric bypass patients do not absorb well. They are simply inadequate for the needs of gastric bypass patients.
Optisource
Optisource chewable vitamins are marketed specifically to bariatric surgery patients, which I think is a shame since they are completely inadequate for gastric bypass patients. The ASMBS specifies that gastric bypass patients need 200 percent of the recommended daily allowance of most nutrients, but the recommended dose of Optisource (four tablets per day) only provides 100 percent of most things. The label on Optisource vitamins also advises patients that they do not need to take addition calcium with Optisource multivitamins, but Optisource contains calcium carbonate, which gastric bypass patients do not absorb due to decreased production of stomach acid. That’s why the ASMBS specifies that gastric bypass patients should take calcium citrate instead of calcium carbonate.
Made by One A Day, VitaCraves are a gummy vitamin. They taste a lot like candy. They are more nutritious than candy, but not nearly as nutritious as a multivitamin should be. They are missing a long list of vitamins and minerals that gastric bypass patients need, including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin K, copper, selenium, mangensium, manganese and potassium. The ASMBS specifies that gastric bypass patients needs these vital nutrients.
Vitafusion
Vitafusion is another gummy multivitamin, with more flavor than nutrition. They contain no thiamine, vitamin K, zinc, copper, selenium, magnesium, manganese and potassium. They contain low levels of many other vitamins; for instance, one gummy piece contains only 25 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and niacin.
Wellesse Liquid Multivitamin
Wellesse is a liquid multivitamin marketed to bariatric patients. The Wellesse website actually posts the recommendations of the ASMBS, so all potential customers can easily see how the Wellesse multivitamin simply does not come close to meeting those guidelines. It contains absolutely no minerals at all – no zinc, no selenium, no copper, no magnesium, no manganese, no iodine, no potassium. The ASMBS specifies that gastric bypass patients should use a multivitamin that contains minerals, of course.
Sources:
Bariatric Nutrition. http://nutrition.otago.ac.nz/__data/assets/file/0005/4784/BariatricNutritionReading.pdf. Suggestions for the Surgical Weight Loss Patient.
Nestle Health Science. http://www.nestlenutritionstore.com/departments/weight-management-nutrition/post-bariatric-surgery-nutrition/optisource-vitamin-mineral-supplement. Optisource Chewable Vitamin and Mineral Supplement.
One A Day. http://oneaday.com/vitacraves_gummies.html. VitaCraves.
