[Nutritional impact of beta-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate supplementation in patients undergoing bariatric surgery]

Introduction: bariatric surgery is an effective treatment but weight loss does not occur only at the expense of fat mass and preserving muscle mass is a priority. Objective: to evaluate the improvement in nutritional parameters of patients undergoing bariatric surgery after supplementation with beta-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB). Methodology: intervention study comparing 2 types of protein supplementation (with and without HMB) in the 3 months after surgery. All patients underwent a baseline and 3-month anthropometric, body composition, dynamometry and analytical study with usual nutritional determination, inflammation markers (CRP and IL-6), muscle markers (irisin, CK) and MRO (CTX, P1NP, sclerostin). Adherence was assessed and physical activity was recorded. Results: a total of 24 patients (87.5 % women) with a mean age of 52 ± 8 years were included. There were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) between intervention vs control in weight loss (17.5 ± 1.3 vs 19.1 ± 1.7 kg), MME (3.07 ± 1.7 vs 3.06 ± 136 kg), MG (12.9 ± 0.8 vs 14.7 ± 1.4 kg) or in dynamometry. Prealbumin levels in the intervention group were significantly higher (21 ± 1 vs 18 ± 0.8 mg/dl, p = 0.04) but there were no significant differences in the rest of the analytical markers. Significant changes in weight and fat mass were observed depending on physical activity. Conclusions: after bariatric surgery, a significant weight reduction has been seen both at the expense of fat mass and lean mass in all patients. HMB supplementation has not shown statistically significant differences compared to the other protein supplementation to preserve muscle mass or function.