Question:
with rny does the body absorb less calories of whats been eaten? Is this permanent.

   — Sheri C. (posted on June 9, 2003)

June 9, 2003
This part of the RNY is called malabsorption and, yes, it is permanent. Part of your small intestine has been bypassed, and the small intestine is where most digestion and absorption occurs. Since part has been bypassed, you are losing digestion/absorption of that area....and this is permanent because that part will be bypassed forever-more.
   — Lynette B.

June 9, 2003
Yes it is true that you lose a part of your small intenstines however over time the remaining part will adapt and become more efficient in absorbing. The max malabsoption is the "window of opportunity" basically we have about 1.5 - 2 years to develop healthy eating before our bodies adapt to the surgery. I'm not a medical professional but this is my understanding of it. <p>Take Care, Be Well, Be Happy!
   — John T.

June 9, 2003
I copied this post from Tally awhile back as I am most interested in this topic <b>~~~></b> After surgery, our bodies fight very hard to get back to "normal." The portion of our intestines that remains in the food tract adjusts during the two years or so to absorb more nutrients. During this "intestinal adaptation" period, the small bowel lengthens and balloons, the villi become larger, and peristalsis slows. Basically, our bodies are doing everything possible (through little understood mechanisms) to allow us to absorb more of what we eat. Whether or not the adaptation completely compensates for the intestinal bypass probably depends on how extensive the bypass is. There is actually a study going on right now at Mt. Sinai in New York City that is looking at post-WLS absorption after the RNY and the BPD-DS. One of the members of the Duodenal Switch Yahoo group is participating in the study. She is several years post-op from the BPD-DS, and her personal results show that she is currently absorbing only 50% of the calories she consumes. (Don't ask how they determined that...let's just say she went through a lot of s*** in the name of science! :-)) This is similar to the results of the 1998 Scopinaro report on the BPD, which found that, on average, BPD post-ops were absorbing 58% of their calorie intake at 2-3 years post-op (the range was 32%-71%). So, it's pretty clear that the process of intestinal adaptation does not overcome the malabsorption of distal procedures. Hopefully the new Mt. Sinai study will shed more light on this issue for RNY patients as well.
   — Denise W.

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