Introduction Data on vegetarianism and bariatric surgery (BS) are scarce. We herein describe the health and nutritional status of vegetarian patients who plan to undergo BS and propose combined recommendations for vegetarian patients who... more
Introduction Data on vegetarianism and bariatric surgery (BS) are scarce. We herein describe the health and nutritional status of vegetarian patients who plan to undergo BS and propose combined recommendations for vegetarian patients who undergo BS, based on our clinical experience and current scientific literature in both nutrition fields. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of a prospectively maintained database of all primary laparoscopic sleeve gastrecto-mies (LSG) performed at a bariatric center of excellence between January 2014 and November 2016 was carried out querying patients who declared a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle before surgery. Preoperative data collected included demographics, anthropometrics, dietary patterns, supplemen-tation use, physical activity, smoking habits, co-morbidities, and blood tests. Each vegetarian was matched to five different omnivores based on age, gender, and BMI. Results During the study period, 1470 patients underwent primary LSG surgery (63.7% females). Twenty-one declared a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle (1.4%) pre-surgery. Most were classified as lacto-ovo (57.1%) and were driven from ethical reasons (85.7%). No differences were found between vegetarian and omnivore LSG candidates regarding co-morbidities and nutritional deficiencies, except for lower prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (14.3 vs. 47.1%;P = 0.007), lower ferritin levels (54.3 ± 50.5 vs. 96.8 ± 121.8 ng/ml;
