Abstract

PIP: This article catalogs the nutritional deficiencies inadvertently introduced by certain treatment regimens. Specifically, the iatrogenic effects on nutrition of surgery, hemodialysis, irradiation, and drugs are reviewed. Nutritional problems are particularly frequent consequences of surgery on the gastrointestinal tract. Gastric surgery can lead to deficiencies of vitamin B12, folate, iron, and thiamine, as well as to metabolic bone disease. The benefits of small bowel bypass are limited by the potentially severe nutritional consequences of this procedure. Following bypass surgery, patients should be monitored for signs of possible nutritional probems such as weight loss, neuropathy, cardiac arrhythmias, loss of stamina, or changes in mental status. Minimal laboratory tests should include hematologic evaluation, B12, folate, iron, albumin, calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, transaminases, sodium, potassium, chloride, and carbon dioxide levels. Roentgenologic examination of the bone should also be obtained. Loss of bone substance is a major consequence of many forms of treatment, and dietary supplementation with calcium is warranted. Patients undergoing hemodialysis have shown carnitine and choline deficiencies, potassium depletion, and hypovitaminosis, as well as osteomalacia. Chronic drug use may alter intake, synthesis, absorption, transport, storage, metabolism, or excretion of nutrients. Patients vary markedly in the metabolic effects of drugs, and recommendations for nutrition must be related to age, sex, reproductive status, and genetic endowment. Moreover, the illness being treated can itself alter nutritional requirements and the effect of the treatment on nutrient status. The changes in nutritional levels induced by use of estrogen-containing oral contraceptives (OCs) are obscure; however, the effects on folate matabolism appear to be of less clinical import than previously suggested. Reduction in pyridoxine and serum vitamin B12 levels has been reported among OC users, and requirements of thiamine and riboflavin may be increased. In cases where the therapy is justified, the nutritional consequences can often be justified. However, every effort should be made to identify nutritional side effects by proper assessment procedures and to manage them by oral or parenteral supplementation where feasible.