Perioperative nutritional practices in patients undergoing bariatric surgery in India: A delphi consensus

Introduction: Variations in cultural practices, diet, socioeconomic factors, genetics, and procedure selection have a potential impact on nutritional outcomes after bariatric surgery. There are no updated guidelines from India on clinical practice on the nutritional management of patients undergoing bariatric surgery. This is the first attempt to have a consensus on the subject. Methods: An expert committee was constituted which voted for three rounds on 20 statements/questions based on a Delphi method. Results: There was consensus regarding preoperative screening of hemoglobin, packed cell volume, albumin, iron, ferritin, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, preoperative weight loss, postoperative prophylactic protein supplementations, therapeutic supplementation of iron, B12, and Vitamin D, postoperative testing, and frequency of follow-up visits. Experts did not agree on the routine preoperative testing of serum folate and thiamine. There was no consensus on lifelong supplementation with bariatric formulation, difference of supplementation dosages for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and one anastomosis gastric bypass, or postponement of surgery pending correction of nutritional deficiencies. Conclusion: We need a better-quality regional data to formulate guidelines that can provide evidence-based guidance for the clinical practice.