Essential Nutrition for Recovery after Surgery (Part 2)
Essential Nutrition for Recovery after Surgery (Part 2) In this follow up to our essential Nutrition & Surgery focus part one, Director and Principal Dietitian Gillian Killiner, continues in this blog to discuss the key role that vitamins and minerals play in helping your body recover after surgery. Vitamin A – essential for recovery after surgery Vitamin A is commonly known as the anti-infective vitamin for surgery. It is central to normal functioning of your immune system. Vitamin A is also needed to maintain the integrity and function of your skin and mucosal cells. When you enter a hospital or clinic for surgery, many things will stress you. You will also be exposed to bacteria and viruses that your system is not used to. Infection will quickly use up your vitamin A stores. In this way, infection starts a vicious cycle, because not enough vitamin A is related to increased severity and likelihood of death from infectious disease. It is important to go into surgery with a good supply of vitamin A in your tissues. You will need to continue consuming enough vitamin A to keep those levels optimal. Vitamin A rich foods include: beef liver, carrots, sweet potato, kale, romaine lettuce, apricots, broccoli, butter, eggs, cantaloupe melon and red pepper. Vitamin E essential nutrition for recovery after surgery The main function of vitamin E in humans is as an antioxidant which are known to neutralizes toxic radicals in the cells. Vitamin E has been shown to improve immune system functions that decline as people age. It helps increase blood flow. It does this by preventing blood clots and relaxing blood vessel walls. These properties all shorten post surgery recovery time. Vitamin E rich foods include: sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, mango, avocado, butternut squash, broccoli, spinach, kiwi and tomatoes. Vitamin D – essential for recovery after surgery Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin needed for normal calcium metabolism. You make vitamin D in your skin when you are in the sun without clothing or sunscreen. Vitamin D regulates your immune system function during times of stress. Adequate vitamin D levels are important for decreasing the risk of high blood pressure. If you do not have enough vitamin D you can prolong your recovery time. With deficiency you will not absorb enough calcium. Then your body will steal calcium from your bones. This will increase complications and longer term your risk of osteoporosis and other health problems. Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness and pain. Obesity increases the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Once vitamin D is made in the skin or ingested, it is deposited in body fat stores. Storage makes it less available especially to people with large amounts of body fat. Vitamin D rich foods include: halibut, mackerel, salmon, rainbow trout, cod liver oil, sardines, tuna and eggs. Iron – essential nutrient for recovery after surgery Iron is required for a number of vital functions, including growth, reproduction, healing, and immune function. You need the right amount of iron for hundreds of proteins and enzymes. Post-operative anaemia is associated with poorer surgical outcomes including infections, increased length of hospital stay, circulatory overload, and death. Iron rich foods include: spirulina, liver, beef, lentils, dark chocolate, spinach, sardines, black beans, pistachios and raisins. Copper – essential for recovery after surgery You must have enough copper in your system for normal iron metabolism and red blood cell formation. Anaemia is a sign of copper deficiency. Copper is required for you to be able to move iron to your bone marrow for red blood cell formation. Vitamin A deficiency will make iron deficiency anaemia worse. Taking a combination of vitamin A and iron will protect you from anaemia better than either iron or vitamin A alone. Copper rich foods include: beef liver, shitake mushrooms, cashews, chickpeas, kale, cocoa powder, sesame seeds, quinoa, almonds, lentils and chia seeds. Calcium essential nutrition for surgical recovery Calcium is the most common mineral in the human body. About 99 percent of the calcium in your body is found in your bones and teeth. The other one percent is found in your blood and soft tissue. The functions of calcium are so vital to survival that the body will steal calcium from your bones. It does this to keep blood calcium levels normal when your calcium intake is too low. Calcium plays many important roles. It is vital in controlling the constriction (closing) and relaxation (opening) of your blood vessels. It also aids proper nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and release of your hormones. Calcium is a key factor for good recovery from any surgery involving your bones. Only about 30 percent of the calcium in your food is actually absorbed in your digestive tract. You lose a certain amount of calcium in your urine every day. This depends on how much caffeine you drink. Too much or not enough protein in your diet will affect your calcium absorption and the strength of your bones. Calcium rich foods include: kale, sardines, yoghurt, broccoli, watercress, cheese, bok choy and almonds. Magnesium – essential nutrition for recovery after surgery Magnesium plays important roles in the structure and the function of the human body. Over 60 percent of all the magnesium in your body is found in your bones. About 27 percent is found in muscle, while six to seven percent is found in other cells. Magnesium is required by many other nutrients, like vitamin D and calcium, to function properly. Proper wound healing after surgery requires the right amounts of calcium and magnesium in the fluid around the cells involved in the injury. If you are having surgery that involves your bones, magnesium is very important for the best outcome. Magnesium rich foods include: spinach, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, almonds, black beans, avocado, yoghurt and banana. Zinc essential nutrition for surgical recovery Zinc is an essential trace element for all forms of life. Zinc deficiency has recently been recognized by a number of experts as an important public health issue.
Never eat a polar bears liver!
Cute they maybe, but deadly to eat! Last night, The Polar Bear Family & Me was on BBC Two and since it also happens to be Liver Awareness month I thought I would share this top tip with you: Never Eat a Polar Bears Liver. Now okay, not likely to happen down the high street, but should you find yourself in this unusual circumstance be warned! So why is a Polar Bear’s Liver so lethal? Arctic predators such as polar bears have a greater capacity to store vitamin A in their liver than most other animals. It is thought to be because of the effect of naturally occurring vitamin A in marine algae being passed up the food chain to the polar bear. So great is the polar bears ability to store this vitamin that if you were to consume the liver, you would more than likely succumb to the effects of Hypervitaminosis A. Put simply it would be too much vitamin A for your body to handle & and you would suffer from vitamin A poisoning. Symptoms of this include liver & bone damage, hair loss, double vision, vomiting and headaches. However don’t panic and avoid Vitamin A altogether as it is essential for growth & normal development. In particular it is important for our eyes and fight infections. If we don’t get enough it can lead to night blindness. The estimated average requirement for vitamin A in adult females is 400µg per day & 500 µg per day in males. In doses over 100mg in children or 300mg for adults it can become toxic. Good Sources of Vitamin A Foods rich in vitamin A to eat regularly include: – Oily fish, eggs, fortified low fat spreads, milk, yoghurt, liver and cheese -in small amounts. For most people an overdose of the vitamin from their diet would be unlikely however as a precaution pregnant women should take care to avoid vitamin A supplements (unless advised otherwise by a doctor), liver & liver products since they contain high levels of Vitamin A. Too much of which can have a negative effect on the developing baby. Why you should love your liver The liver is the largest organ in the body. A healthy liver is kept busy performing various jobs, over 500 to be precise! The liver acts like a factory in the body. It performs tasks such as creating proteins, blood clotting factors and other products which aid with digestion and energy release. It also acts a storage facility for vitamins, iron & energy. The liver helps to control blood sugar levels, it cleanses infections from the blood & helps to neutralise drugs & toxins that enter the body. How to love your liver If you want to show your liver you love it. Then you should familiarise yourself with some of its friends and foes. Friends of the liver Exercise We all know that exercise is a great way to get fit and lose weight. Carrying around excess weight and especially visceral (body fat) is a risk factor for liver damage. Therefore maintaining a healthy weight is a great way to reduce your risk. By exercising and moderating your diet you are likely to lose more fat than with just diet or exercise alone. As well as slimming down you may also be helping to remove fat from around the liver. In doing exercise you are helping to optimise the functions of the liver. Which means you’re helping to keep the factory running efficiently. Nutrient Rich Diet Reducing saturated fats, sugars and processed foods will reduce extra stress on the liver. Eating a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables and complex carbohydrates: brown rice and pasta, wholemeal bread, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds and lean proteins. This will boost the function of the liver to improve it from working like it was riding a toy bike with wooden wheels to a Olympian Velodrome cyclist! Fluids as per recommended (1.5 to 2 litres) helps keep the body toxins flushed through the system. Foes of the liver Alcohol Each time your liver filters alcohol some of the liver cells die. Despite this the liver is very resilient and providing it has no lasting damage it can repair itself very quickly. It can take as little as 24 hrs to go back to normal. However, over time prolonged alcohol misuse can cause serious damage. You can help your liver by not binge drinking and giving yourself 2-3 days in a row off from drinking alcohol. This will keep your total intake down and gives your liver time to recover. Drugs can have detrimental effects too, so follow the advice from your GP or pharmacist. For more information on vitamin A If you wish to have a liver check-up do get in touch with us: email: info@121dietitian.com If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits for the best or need help optimising the foods you eat. 121 Dietitian are happy to help with any nutrition related query big or small. 121Dietitian Make sure you have the correct nutritious foods. Check out the 121Dietitian Shop Please visit my YouTube Channel. If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Gillian x Information checked & correct on 27th December 2022
