Nutrition supplements after weight loss surgery
After weight loss (bariatric) surgery you will need to take nutritional supplements every day. These supplements will help you meet your nutritional needs when you are eating less food.
Daily multivitamins and other supplements
You will need to take a multivitamin supplement after weight loss surgery. Depending on which multivitamin you take and the type of surgery you have had, you may need to take extra supplements. These may include iron, calcium and vitamin D.
You can buy most of the multivitamin and calcium supplements you need online. You can also get some of them in pharmacies and supermarkets. If you need extra iron and vitamin D, your healthcare provider or dietitian can prescribe these.
The supplement options listed below are some that provide good amounts of vitamins and minerals. Individual needs may vary, so it is important to follow the advice from your weight loss surgery healthcare team.
Supplements providing good nutrient levels
- BN Caps — available from BN Healthy
- BN Chews — available from BN Healthy
- BariLife Just One — available from BariLife
- BariLife Complete — available from BariLife
- TRIC Multivitamin + iron 24 mg — available from TRIC
- TRIC Multivitamin (no iron) — available from TRIC
- My New Tum — available from My New Tum
- Centrum Women’s — available from most supermarkets and pharmacies.
Calcium supplements (providing 500 mg calcium):
- BariBursts — available from BariLife
- Celebrate Calcium Soft Chews — available from TRIC
- Solgar calcium citrate with vitamin D3 — available from Solgar and some health food stores and pharmacies
- BN Cal (this product only contains 200 mg calcium per tablet, you will need 2 ½ tablets to provide 500 mg calcium) — available from BN Healthy.
Daily nutrition supplement options for your type of surgery
Product and recommended daily dose (choose 1 option)
- 2 x BN Caps AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement
- 2 x BN Chews
- 1 x BariLife Just One AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement
- 6 x BariLife Complete
- 1 x TRIC Multivitamin + Iron 24 mg AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement
- 1 x TRIC Multivitamin (no iron) AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement AND 1 x iron supplement
- 2 x My New Tum AND 1 x iron supplement
- 2 x Centrum Women’s AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement
Product and recommended daily dose (choose one option).
- 2 x BN Caps AND 2 x 500 mg calcium supplements
- 2 x BN Chews AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement
- 1 x BariLife Just One AND 2 x 500 mg calcium supplements
- 6 x BariLife Complete
- 1 x TRIC Multivitamin + iron 24mg AND 2 x 500 mg calcium supplements
- 1 x TRIC Multivitamin (no iron) AND 2 x 500 mg calcium supplements and 1 x iron supplement
- 2 x My New Tum AND 1 x iron supplement
- 2 x Centrum Women’s AND 1 x 500 mg calcium supplement
Product and recommended daily dose (choose 1 option).
- 8 x BariLife Complete — spread throughout the day (for example, 3 tablets in the morning, 3 tablets in the afternoon, 2 tablets at night)
- 1 ½ x BariLife Just One AND 4 x 500 mg calcium supplements
The more of your gut has been bypassed, the greater your risk of a nutritional deficiency. This means you will need to take more supplements.
Your surgeon and bariatric team will give you advice. Your healthcare provider can also find this information in your surgery notes by checking your intestinal limb length.
- If your bypassed intestinal limb length is more than 150 cm, use the recommendations above for duodenal switch (DS).
- If your bypassed intestinal limb length is 150 cm or less, use the recommendation above for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.