Source: Medical News Today (Originally from the ASMBS)

In 2008, an estimated 220,000 Americans underwent bariatric surgery. With obesity rates continuing to rise, surgery is likely to become an even more popular option. The most popular weight loss surgery, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, achieves weight loss by making the stomach significantly smaller and bypassing part of the small intestine. In this manner, not only do patients eat less, but they also derive fewer nutrients (including micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals) from what they do consume.

Nana Gletsu Miller, Ph.D., describes an important facet of post-operative health:

Less than 20 percent [of patients] get routinely checked after surgery, and this is what leads to complications.

Gletsu Miller, a professor at Emory University, and her colleagues tracked over 150 patients who had gastric bypass surgery in 1999. They found that 12 percent of patients developed a severe copper deficiency.

Continue reading ‘Copper Deficiency after Bariatric Surgery’