A short-duration restrictive diet reduces visceral adiposity in the morbidly obese surgical patient

Background

This study aims to determine if visceral obesity can be reduced after a brief preoperative diet in obese patients.

Methods

Forty morbidly obese patients were placed on a 1,000 kCal per day diet for 14 days before bariatric surgery. Patients had weight measurements and an abdominal ultrasound performed on days 1 and 14. The ultrasound measured visceral obesity using the distance between the abdominal muscle and the aorta, the fat thickness of the perinephric space, and the distance between the abdominal muscle and splenic vein. Mesenteric fat burden was calculated and compared.

Results

Thirty-eight patients (95%) lost weight on the diet, with a mean loss of 5.2 lbs. Twenty-five patients (63%) had a reduction in mesenteric fat. The average visceral obesity lost was 7.76 cm³ or 3% of the visceral adiposity of the average obese patient (250 cm³).

Conclusions

A short preoperative calorie restricting diet is well tolerated and results in a reduction in visceral obesity.