Successful intensive course for dietetic treatment before and after adiposity surgery
The beginning in Leipzig was promising. The next installment will follow in november.
At the end of may the firs intensive course "Diet therapy in the context of bariatric surgery" by the German Dietitian Association (VDD) was held in cooperation with the IFB AdiposityDiseases and the University Hospital in Leipzig. The seminar was quickly booked up and therefore there will be a second course in november which will again take place in Leipzig. Since adiposity surgery is still a comparatively new field there is still a lot of information demand before and after such an intervention, especially in diet therapy. For example, the diet before the surgery is supposed to reduce the size of an enlarged and fatty liver in order to decrease the risk of the surgery. After the intervention it has to be ensured that the patient receives enough vitamines and minerals despite taking in a reduced amount of food. They also have to be taught a normal eating behavior.
It is thanks to Dr. Tatjana Schütz, IFB nutritionist and scientific coordinator in the research field of adiposity surgery (bariatric surgery) that the seminar took place in Leipzig. "I had heard that the VDD has a need for such a course and therefore I brought Leipzig and the cooperation with the IFB and the University Hospital up." The title of the course is oriented on the guidelines "Diet in the context of bariatric surgery" that was released by Mario Hellbardt (dietitian and public health scientist), who has been working at the IFB since may, together with the VDD last year. The seminar was adressed to dietitians that want to further qualify in the assistance of massively adipose patients and who want to widen their counceling competence.
A bariatric surgery often is the las therapeutic possibility to treat patients with morbid obesity whom conservative therapy approaches have failed. Depending on the surgical procedure either a reduction of the possible amount of food or a reduced ingestion (malabsorption) of nutrients from the bowel which eventually leads to weight reduction. For the patient this means a fundamental adjustment of their diet and live-long follow-up care. The diet therapy therefore signifies an important part of the care of adipose patients before and after bariatric surgery.
The course was interdisciplinary: Apart from dietic topics it also treated psychological and health economic aspects as well as questions about the effectiveness of drugs (pharmacokinetics). 20 dietitians from all over Germany assisted the 23 lessons. The feedback of the course was positive. The lecturers, among them 8 out of 10 from the IFB or University Hospital received good evaluations.
Literature recommendation:
Hellbardt, Mario (Hrsg.) (2011): Ernährung im Kontext der bariatrischen Chirurgie. Ein diättherapeutischer Leitfaden für die Betreuung und Beratung von adipösen Erwachsenen im Rahmen der interdisziplinären prä- und postoperativen Versorgung bei adipositas-chirurgischen Eingriffen. Lengerich.
Keywords: events, obesity treatment, obesity surgery