A friend of mine told me today that you can't absorb calcium with the sleeve and it will cause you to have horrible teeth and bone problems in the future. She said that suppliments can't be absorbed enough and won't help. This is a friend of mine that has been wanting to have WLS and is too scared because of all the side effects. Anyone ever heard of this?

Thats not true that I know of, with the sleeve its suppose to absorb nutrients with no concerns, unlike the gastric bypass.... the sleeve is an amazing tool that puts little restrictyions on the body afterwards :thumbup:

There has been problems with patients that have had RNY gastric bypass with absorption of calcium as the duodenum is bypassed. But what studies found was that if these patients took calcium citrate supplements they were able to absorb it better than calcium carbonate.

The sleeve does not bypass the duodenum therefore there should not be any problems with absorption. But you could always take the calcium citrate supplements if there was a worry.

Check springerlink there are studies done on this subject.

Lily

Most dietary calcium is absorbed in the small intestine and transported in the bloodstream bound to albumin, a simple

Protein . Because of this method of transport, levels of albumin can also influence blood calcium measurements. Calcium is deposited in bone with phosphorous in a crystalline form of calcium phosphate.

Read more: Calcium - effects, food, nutrition, deficiency, needs, body, diet, absorption, protein, fat, Vitamin, weight, Vitamins, Deficiency and Toxicity, Requirements and Supplementation http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Ca-De/Calcium.html#ixzz114yMPHY5

I think your friend is full of doo-doo. Ask her where she got this info.

It's very important that you take calcium citrate not calcium carbonate. Calcium citrate does not take acid in your system to be absorbed and it's recommended for sleeve patients.

Your friend is very misinformed, unfortunately for her. You can take this opportunity to bring her up to speed though, if she's also considering WLS!

We're supposed to take supplements because we can't eat enough food to get what we need through diet alone... but then again, most of our foods are so nutrient-depleted that just about EVERYONE should be taking supplements anyway! From my understanding though (and please, someone correct this if I've got it wrong), the only thing we have trouble processing through food is Vitamin B12. Apparently it relies on something called Intrinsic Factor that's produced by the stomach, to be absorbed through eating. Since the stomach's not making that, then we need to take sublingual B12 supplements, which dissolve and are absorbed under the tongue. They're cheap and usually pretty tasty!

Sounds like your friend might be talking about one of the malabsorptive procedures...either the RNY or the DS.

And I do believe Stacy is right..the only thing we have trouble with is the B12 due to a reduced amount of Intrinsic Factor.

The fact that the sleeve has the LEAST amount of side effects (actually WHAT side effects?) is why I chose this surgery and not one of the other options.

I had my 2 week follow up today. The paper on vitamins I received states " Sleeve patients need 1500-2000mg of calcium daily. In addition to 2-3 servings of dairy per day.

Not sure of the physiology behind it.

I do know the body can only absorb 500-600mg at any one time so that the doses need to be broken up throughout the day.

PPIs reduce calcium absorption, so this would be a concern while you are on a PPI, but not after.

Thanks for the info everyone!

This is not true. Nothing is altered about the way we absorb things. The only thing I was told in reference to calcium is that it is better for us to have calcium citrate instead of calcium carbonate.

It's very important that you take calcium citrate not calcium carbonate. Calcium citrate does not take acid in your system to be absorbed and it's recommended for sleeve patients.

This is what my Nut said too....