Relationship Between Diet and Body Composition After Biliopancreatic Diversion

Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) has been shown to be one of the most effective techniques for losing weight, although the relationship between body composition and diet after the procedure is not well known. Our aim was to assess dietary changes and their effects on body composition.

This longitudinal study included all patients eligible for BPD who had undergone body composition analysis. Two assessments were performed: 6 weeks before and 1 year after surgery. Nutritional education was given after surgery by a registered dietitian, and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was performed and a 3-day food record was collected for further analysis at both of the visits.

Forty-six patients were included. The percentage of excess of weight loss was 61.03 % (SD 14.01 %), which was statistically different by gender (p = 0.045). The percentage of subjects reporting a low daily protein consumption of less than 60 g and 1.2 g/kg of ideal body weight (IBW)/day was 15.2 % before surgery and 19.6 % at 12 months (p = 0.006). The weight loss was mainly of fat mass (FM). There were differences of body composition by gender before and after surgery. A simple correlation analysis showed a significant association between daily energy intake and FM (g) only before surgery (p = 0.030), and also between daily protein intake (expressed as total g) and lean body mass (LBM) 12 months after surgery (p = 0.018), but no association was found with achieved protein goal.

BPD enhanced by nutritional education seems to improve its results by achieving an adequate weight loss, preserving LBM, decreasing FM, and guaranteeing an appropriate protein intake.