Alcohol warning for gastric bypass patients
Patients who have had a gastric bypass operation take longer to process alcohol, potentially leading some of them to overindulge when drinking, according to the results of a new study reported in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
The results of alcohol metabolism changes in gastric bypass patients showed that patients who underwent a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) operation had considerably higher breath alcohol content (BAC) and took significantly more time to return to a sober state after drinking, compared with BAC levels tested prior to having their procedure.
“Severe obesity continues to be a public health crisis in the US, and bariatric surgery offers a very effective treatment,” said senior author Dr John Morton, associate professor of surgery at Stanford (CA) University.
“RYGB patients need to understand that their body will respond to alcohol differently after their operation and they need to exercise caution if they choose to drink alcohol,” said Dr Morton.
“Our recommendation to all of our RYGB patients is never drink and drive and to limit consumption of alcohol to one standard drink (one 12-oz beer, 5-oz wine, or 2-oz liquor) for every two hours. The key to safeguarding bariatric surgery benefits is to provide appropriate patient education.”
