Medication and nutrient administration considerations after bariatric surgery

Obesity in the United States is increasing at an alarming rate. Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30, affects approxi-mately 50 million Americans.1,2 Of those, 12 million are morbidly obese (BMI ≥ 40). Morbid obesity is associ-ated with many comorbidities (e.g., type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipid-emia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, heart disease, stroke, asthma, degenerative joint disease, cancer, depression)1 and can shorten life ex-pectancy.1,2 Pharmacologic therapies, such as orlistat and sibutramine, produce only modest weight loss and have various adverse effects.3 Thus