Dietary recommendations of the French Society for Rheumatology for patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

This article presents the 1st set of dietary recommendations of the French Society for Rheumatology for patients suffering from chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) made by a working group consisting of 12 rheumatology experts, 3 physician nutrition specialists, 1 internal medicine specialist, 1 registered dietician and 3 representatives from patient associations. This group relied on a systematic literature review and on expert opinions, while taking into consideration not only the joint effects of diet in IRD but also the extra-articular ones. Eight general principles and nine recommendations were established. The general principles emphasize that nutritional advice is not a substitute for pharmacological treatment of IRD and that it is an integral part of the patients' overall care, which could help the patient actively participate in their care. The recommendations propose supporting weight loss in subjects who are overweight or obese, a Mediterranean-type diet and supplementation in polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly omega-3. Conversely, gluten-free diets (in the absence of celiac disease), vegetarian/vegan diets, fasting and elimination of dairy products should not be proposed. Supplementation with vitamins or trace elements is not indicated for controlling chronic IRD activity, while the use of probiotics or spices is not recommended given the limited or disparate data.

Rates of Postoperative Recurrence of Crohn's Disease and Effects of Immunosuppressive and Biologic Therapies.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The Rutgeerts' scoring system is used to evaluate patients with Crohn's disease (CD) following ileocolic resection, based on endoscopic findings at the anastomosis and in the neoterminal ileum. We investigated rates of clinical and surgical recurrence of CD after surgery and effect of therapy modification based on post-operative endoscopic findings. METHODS: We collected data from 365 adults with CD (20% with Rutgeerts' score i0, 10% with score i1, 49% with score i2, 12% with score i3, 9% with score i4) who underwent ileocolonoscopy within 12 months of ileocolic resection with anastomosis from 2000 through 2013 at 2 centers in Belgium and France. Patients were followed for 3 y or more after the ileocolonoscopy. Clinical post-operative recurrence (POR) was defined as occurrence of CD symptoms along with biologic, radiologic, and/or endoscopic features of disease activity; modified surgical POR was defined as either an endoscopic or surgical intervention. RESULTS: After a median follow-up time of 88 months, 48% of patients had clinical POR and 26% had modified surgical POR. Rates of survival without clinical POR or a modified surgical POR were lower in patients with Rutgeerts' scores of i2, i3, or i4 compared to patients with scores of i0 or i1 (P < .001 and P = .02). New immunosuppressant or biological therapy was initiated following endoscopy in 129/254 patients (51%) with Rutgeerts' score of i2, i3, or i4 vs 7/111 patients (6%) with scores of i0 or i1 (odds ratio for new therapy, 14.9; 95% CI, 7.1-36.8; P < .001). A modest decrease in risk of clinical POR was observed for patients with Rutgeerts scores of i3 or i4 after initiation of immunosuppressive or biological therapy based on endoscopic findings (Breslow P = .03), but this was not observed for patients with scores of i2 (Breslow P = .46). CONCLUSIONS: Use of immunosuppressants and tumor necrosis factor antagonists to treat patients with an asymptomatic endoscopic post-operative recurrence of CD did not reduce long-term risk of clinical recurrence in patients with Rutgeerts' scores of i2, but it had a small effect in patients with scores of i3 or i4.

Comparison of nutritional status during the first year after sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is supposed to induce fewer nutritional deficiencies than gastric bypass (GBP). However, few studies have compared nutritional status after these two procedures, and the difference in weight loss (WL) between procedures may alter the results. Thus, our aim was to compare nutritional status after SG and GBP in subjects matched for postoperative weight. Forty-three subjects who underwent SG were matched for age, gender, and 6-month postoperative weight with 43 subjects who underwent GBP. Dietary intakes (DI), metabolic (MP), and nutritional parameters (NP) were recorded before and at 6 and 12 months after both procedures. Multivitamin supplements were systematically prescribed after surgery. Before surgery, BMI, DI, MP, and NP were similar between both groups. After surgery, LDL cholesterol, serum prealbumin, vitamin B12, urinary calcium, and vitamin D concentrations were lower after GBP than after SG, whereas WL and DI were similar after both procedures. However, the total number of deficiencies did not increase after surgery regardless of the procedure. In addition, we found a significant increase in liver enzymes and a greater decrease in C-reactive protein after GBP. In conclusion, during the first year after surgery, in patients with the same WL and following the same strategy of vitamin supplementation, global nutritional status was only slightly impaired after SG and GBP. However, some nutritional parameters were specifically altered after GBP, which could be related to malabsorption or other mechanisms, such as alterations in liver metabolism.

Serum vitamin D increases with weight loss in obese subjects 6 months after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

BACKGROUND: Malabsorptive surgical procedures lead to deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins. However, results concerning serum vitamin D (25OHD) after gastric bypass (GBP) are controversial. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of GBP on 25OHD and calcium metabolism. METHODS: Parameters of calcium metabolism were evaluated in 202 obese subjects before and 6 months after GBP. Thirty of them were matched for age, gender, weight, skin color, and season with 30 subjects who underwent sleeve gastrectomy (SG). A multivitamin preparation that provides 200 to 500 IU vitamin D3 per day was systematically prescribed after surgery. RESULTS: In the 202 patients after GBP, serum 25OHD significantly increased from 13.4 ± 9.1 to 22.8 ± 11.3 ng/ml (p < 0.0001), whereas parathyroid hormone (PTH) did not change. Despite a decrease in calcium intake (p < 0.0001) and urinary calcium/creatinine ratio (p = 0.015), serum calcium increased after GBP (p < 0.0001). Preoperatively, 91 % of patients had 25OHD insufficiency (< 30 ng/ml), 80% deficiency (< 20 ng/ml), and 19% secondary hyperparathyroidism (> 65 pg/ml) vs. 76, 44, and 17%, respectively, following GBP. Serum 25OHD was negatively correlated with BMI at 6 months after GBP (R = -0.299, p < 0.0001). In the two groups of 30 subjects, serum 25OHD and PTH did not differ at 6 months after GBP or SG. CONCLUSIONS: At 6 months after GBP, serum 25OHD significantly increased in subjects supplemented with multivitamins containing low doses of vitamin D. These data suggest that weight loss at 6 months after surgery has a greater influence on vitamin D status than malabsorption induced by GBP.