Hey Vitamin Gurus... what do you think about these...
Just a little info about Bariatric Fusion. The CEO and founder of Bariatric Fusion, Marc McCabe is a PA at my surgeon's office. While they do "suggest" that their patients use the Bariatric Fusion, they only "require" that for at least the first 3 months that the patients use a bariatric chewable vitamin. Unjury was cheaper and only 1 vitamin a day. As soon as I ran out I went and bought Centrum Silver on sale on a BOGO. Much cheaper at $8.00 a bottle for 80 tablets and I got the 2nd bottle for free! So, almost 3 months of multivitamins for $8.00 compared to the cost of Bariatric Fusion or Unjury.
Can we take reg Centrium? I'm coming up on 7 weeks out, so I'm staying on my Optisource (4xaday) for another month or longer but after that I'd much rather swallow it and once per day preferably...so what's the best route for that? I think I remember my dietician not recommending Centrium for some reason I forget...
I'm taking these for the first few months after surgery. I decided to go with these since I went with their shakes. To me, it's more for convenience until I get my vitamin regimine in place. I'm doing well with getting my vitamins and prescriptions in so far, but I'm sure I won't want to take chewables forever.
FYI: after you're not on shakes all the time, you would need to up the dosage to 8 per day in order to get the recommended vitamins and minerals in. If you read the back of their shake packages, they suggest having 2 shakes/day plus the 4 chewable multis in order to get all of your vitamin and mineral needs met.
Personally, I don't want to be drinking shakes forever.
On a side note, I did pick up a month's supply of Celebrate Vitamins, too. Just to try them out. Check out their site as well: celebratevitamins.com
FYI: after you're not on shakes all the time, you would need to up the dosage to 8 per day in order to get the recommended vitamins and minerals in. If you read the back of their shake packages, they suggest having 2 shakes/day plus the 4 chewable multis in order to get all of your vitamin and mineral needs met.
Personally, I don't want to be drinking shakes forever.
On a side note, I did pick up a month's supply of Celebrate Vitamins, too. Just to try them out. Check out their site as well: celebratevitamins.com
I wrote a post on my profile ages ago about this vitamin. Definitely NOT a good choice for WLS patients. I hate when vitamin companies slap on a "bariatric" label and try to make a quick buck off an entire industry. If you want to read my opinion on my profile, here's the link:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/pwsammy/blog/2009/01/29/my -opinion-of-bariatric-fusion-vitamins/
Also copying it here:
My Opinion of Bariatric Fusion Vitamins [Edit Post]
posted on 1/29/09 7:16 am
When they say it's "everything in one" .... be wary. It's not. Just because a manufacturer slaps the word "Bariatric" on the label doesn't mean it's the right brand for bariatric patients. And just because the drug reps are really good at marketing and pulling the wool over surgeon's eyes, doesn't mean it's the right vitamin for us. Everyone is trying to make a buck these days and I'm afraid Bariatric Fusion is one of those companies.
So when you combine the information that Bariatric Fusion provides on their website about the ingredients in their vitamins and some basic research in the medical and scientific community about vitamins, their interactions with each other and how our RNY bodies handle certain vitamins.... we know that:
Wrong Kind of Calcium --- it's calcium carbonate combined with citrate. Carbonate is the wrong kind of calcium after RNY - we dont' absorb carbonate. Bariatric Fusion fully acknowledges that we don't absorb calcium carbonate, but uses it anyway. They have an explaination on their website why they use a combination of different calciums and their lame excuse is that it helps make the pills smaller. My bones are more important than pill size.
Not Enough Calcium -- even if it was all the right kind of calcium, it'd still not be enough. In 4 pills daily you get a total of 1200mg of calcium. Figure half of that is the wrong kind/not absorbed, so only about 600mg calcium citrate per day. According to the ASMBS, we need 1500-2000mg calcium citrate per day in addition to the calcium we get from food.
Iron and Calcium Together -- It is well established in the medical and scientific community that iron and calcium use the same cell receptors in the body for absorption and that calcium always wins and iron always loses. It has also been established that the upper limit of combining the two that 300mg of calcium is when that interferance begins. So the 7.5mg of iron per pill may very well be unused by the body because of the amount of calcium per pill. PLUS, Bariatric Fusion says on their website that it's alright if you take 2 pills at once... which means 600mg calcium is beating out 15mg of iron. And let's not even talk about the other heavy metals (zinc, copper) that are also competing with the calcium.
Not Enough B12 -- After RNY we no longer have intrinsic factor to extract B12 from foods and supplements. This is why we need to use sublingual B12 or injections. There is some evidence that we are able to passively absorb 2-3% of B12 from oral supplements, but in order to get an adequate amount of B12 in that way, we need to take mega doses (2500mcg/day). Bariatric Fusion contains a mere 560mcg per daily dose.
If you're looking for a bariatric specific vitamin. Look at Bariatric Advantage or Celebrate. After researching those two brands... I'm more comfortable recommending them. Personally, I use Centrum Adult Chewable Multi-Vitamins
JMHO
Pam
http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/pwsammy/blog/2009/01/29/my -opinion-of-bariatric-fusion-vitamins/
Also copying it here:
My Opinion of Bariatric Fusion Vitamins [Edit Post]
posted on 1/29/09 7:16 am
When they say it's "everything in one" .... be wary. It's not. Just because a manufacturer slaps the word "Bariatric" on the label doesn't mean it's the right brand for bariatric patients. And just because the drug reps are really good at marketing and pulling the wool over surgeon's eyes, doesn't mean it's the right vitamin for us. Everyone is trying to make a buck these days and I'm afraid Bariatric Fusion is one of those companies.
So when you combine the information that Bariatric Fusion provides on their website about the ingredients in their vitamins and some basic research in the medical and scientific community about vitamins, their interactions with each other and how our RNY bodies handle certain vitamins.... we know that:
Wrong Kind of Calcium --- it's calcium carbonate combined with citrate. Carbonate is the wrong kind of calcium after RNY - we dont' absorb carbonate. Bariatric Fusion fully acknowledges that we don't absorb calcium carbonate, but uses it anyway. They have an explaination on their website why they use a combination of different calciums and their lame excuse is that it helps make the pills smaller. My bones are more important than pill size.
Not Enough Calcium -- even if it was all the right kind of calcium, it'd still not be enough. In 4 pills daily you get a total of 1200mg of calcium. Figure half of that is the wrong kind/not absorbed, so only about 600mg calcium citrate per day. According to the ASMBS, we need 1500-2000mg calcium citrate per day in addition to the calcium we get from food.
Iron and Calcium Together -- It is well established in the medical and scientific community that iron and calcium use the same cell receptors in the body for absorption and that calcium always wins and iron always loses. It has also been established that the upper limit of combining the two that 300mg of calcium is when that interferance begins. So the 7.5mg of iron per pill may very well be unused by the body because of the amount of calcium per pill. PLUS, Bariatric Fusion says on their website that it's alright if you take 2 pills at once... which means 600mg calcium is beating out 15mg of iron. And let's not even talk about the other heavy metals (zinc, copper) that are also competing with the calcium.
Not Enough B12 -- After RNY we no longer have intrinsic factor to extract B12 from foods and supplements. This is why we need to use sublingual B12 or injections. There is some evidence that we are able to passively absorb 2-3% of B12 from oral supplements, but in order to get an adequate amount of B12 in that way, we need to take mega doses (2500mcg/day). Bariatric Fusion contains a mere 560mcg per daily dose.
If you're looking for a bariatric specific vitamin. Look at Bariatric Advantage or Celebrate. After researching those two brands... I'm more comfortable recommending them. Personally, I use Centrum Adult Chewable Multi-Vitamins
JMHO
Pam
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