Food intake and nutritional status after total gastrectomy: results of a nutritional follow-up.

We studied dietary intake and nutritional status of 23 patients for 6 months after total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction. At discharge, patients were instructed to keep to recommended dietary allowances (RDA) and to record food intake on a specific form twice weekly. Nutritional follow-up was performed monthly and consisted of a computerized determination of food intake and of a nutritional assessment. The average daily energy intake was 6.10 MJ (1457.9 kcal) in the first postoperative month and 8.87 MJ (2118.4 kcal) in the sixth (P less than 0.0005). In the first monthly follow-up no patient reached RDA. By the sixth month mean daily calorie intake was greater than or equal to RDA in 14 patients (group A), while 9 patients (group B) did not reach RDA. A significant increase in body weight, serum albumin, total iron binding capacity and arm muscular circumference was observed in group A, while a significant decrease in body weight and arm muscular circumference was noted in group B. Moreover, of the seven patients who showed weight loss at 6 months only one was group A. These data indicate that malnutrition is not an inevitable consequence of total gastrectomy and can be prevented by an adequate calorie intake. A close relationship between dietary intake and postoperative nutritional parameters was observed. In gastrectomized patients a strict nutritional follow-up is very important to obtain an adequate dietary intake.