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I sometimes advise overweight patients considering bariatric (weight loss) surgery. For some people, the need to take certain vitamin and mineral supplements for the rest of their lives is not an easy one to swallow. Otherwise, you risk serious nutritional deficiencies.
Still, some patients shy away from having to take so many pills according to plan … forever. That prompted at least one doctor in our area to ask for a skin patch to provide the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Great idea, but how well do they work?
Some nutrients, such as vitamins C and E in some beauty creams, can be absorbed by the skin, albeit in limited amounts. However, these “topical” ointments are only skin-deep.
In patients who have had gastric bypass surgery, the upper part of their stomach has been severed and redirected into their small intestine. In addition to making it difficult to overeat (hence the rapid weight loss), this procedure limits the body’s ability to absorb certain nutrients. Because of this, these patients need an effective way to add extra vitamins and minerals to the body.
Unfortunately, there are few human studies to support the exclusive use of skin patches for the types of vitamins required by gastric bypass patients. A small study of people who had this surgery compared those who used a vitamin skin patch with others who chewed and swallowed vitamin pills.
After one year, 82% of those who used the skin patch were missing one or more nutrients compared to 40% in the pill group. Overall, the researchers found that those who used a skin patch had significantly lower blood levels of vitamins D, B1, and B12 than those who swallowed tablets.
Iron and calcium are other nutrients that are badly needed by patients after gastric bypass surgery. Can these minerals effectively get into the bloodstream and their intended destination in the body through a skin patch?
It would be great if they could, but we don’t quite know yet. Some animal studies have shown that using specially treated patches shows promise to help the skin absorb nutrients better, but again, data in humans are limited.
More human studies are ongoing, so we should know more soon. In the meantime, I would suggest the tried and true methods of adding essential nutrients to our body. Choose foods that provide essential nutrients with every bite. And chew your food well, as this will help your body use the nutrients better.
Until we have more information, I’d say that after gastric surgery, it’s best to swallow chewable or liquid forms of the extra vitamins and minerals you need.
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Quinn on Diet: Do Vitamin Patches Work? (2021, November 5th)
accessed on November 6, 2021
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