San Diego Weight Loss Clinics See Vitamin D and Bariatric Surgery Connection

San Diego gastric bypass surgery clinics may be helping obese women recover lost vitamin D, according to a new study. More than one in three women in the San Diego area are considered obese under current body mass index standards. Conditions such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and some forms of cancer are greatly increased because of obesity, yet decrease with weight loss. Candidates for bariatric procedures such as the gastric sleeve San Diego option performed at Olde Del Mar Surgical, can lessen the severity of these conditions. Many San Diego lap band practices, San Diego gastric bypass surgery clinics, and surgeons offering gastric plication surgery in San Diego have noted these findings. The new study, conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, indicates vitamin D levels in obese women could be a contributor to or the source of the illnesses.

Older women suffering from obesity who lose a substantial amount of weight through bariatric surgery – more than 15 percent of their base body weight – could replenish depreciated levels of vitamin D, according to the new study. It seems some lap band surgery side effects are no longer lap band surgery complications necessarily but positive treatment outcomes. Newer procedures are also being introduced in San Diego area with equally positive results. San Diego gastric plication surgery options are limited – but Olde Del Mar Surgical in San Diego offers the procedure, where small incisions are made in the abdomen with the help of a video camera, or laparoscope.

Researchers who conducted the study say findings could also help scientists examine new theories on prevention of diabetes and cancer. One researcher says there seems to be a link between low levels of vitamin D and obesity – a condition known to be correlated with heart disease and diabetes.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient carried in the bloodstream to the liver. There, eventually it is converted into calcitriol, vitamin D’s biologically active form. Ultimately it acts as a local cytokine, which defends the body against illness and disease.

The study was published recently in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.” Obese and overweight postmenopausal women, 439 total participants, were restricted to specific regimens and/or diets. Women who lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 pounds through exercise and exercise registered moderate vitamin D increases. Those levels increased almost exponentially in women who dropped more weight regardless of their diets. The effect surprised researchers because of the dramatic jump in vitamin D levels as weight loss numbers increased.

Bariatric surgery is for men who are at least 100 pounds overweight and women who are at least 80 pounds overweight. Those who are less overweight may still be candidates for surgery, particularly if they suffer from diabetes, heart disease or sleep apnea. Though the study did not deal with bariatric surgery, the implications are exciting to say the least.

Researchers did note substantial evidence suggesting the greater the loss of weight, the more significant the surge in vitamin D levels. Bariatric surgery is considered one of the most successful forms of weight loss, and lap band surgery complications are fairly uncommon.

However, the researchers noted the degree to which vitamin D is available to the body during and after weight loss remains unclear. They also cautioned that more research needs to be done to understand the possible link between chronic disease and vitamin D deficiency.