The second kind of surgical procedure being used today is the malabsorptive gastrointestinal procedure.

This procedure helps people reduce their body weight by causing a change in their normal, regular digestion pattern. Malabsorptive procedures have always been considered more effective than restrictive procedures. This is because not only does this kind of a procedure restrict the food consumption, it also regulates the amount of nutrients and calories that the body uses.

This in turn ensures a guaranteed reduction in body weight.

There are different kinds of malabsorptive gastrointestinal procedures. The most commonly used ones are:

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RGB)

This kind of surgery involves a small bypass of the small intestine. It is the more popular malabsorptive procedure.

It involves creating a small pouch, as in a restrictive procedure, but also attaching a y-shaped section of the small intestine directly to this pouch. This means that the food bypasses the lower stomach, the duodenum as well as the jejunum.

What does this do? While the small pouch regulates the amount of food being consumed at one go, this bypass regulates the amount of calories being absorbed.

Biliopancreatic Diversion (DPD)

This is not as simple and as commonly used as the RGB procedure.

In this procedure, specific parts of the stomach are totally removed from the body. The pouch created is connected directly to the last part of the small intestine.

The risk lies in the fact that it could lead to nutritional deficiencies.

Another variation of this process involves a duodenal switch. This switch ensures that only a small part of the stomach is removed. The pyloric valve, the one that regulates the flow of food from the stomach to the intestine is left as is, as is also a part of the duodenum.

Advantages over restrictive surgical procedures

Malabsorptive procedures have definite advantages over restrictive procedures. They are more effective in ensuring that actual weight loss happens, and that the weight lost is not put back on easily.

However, what some consider their advantage, i.e. regulating calorie intake, also becomes their biggest disadvantage.

Such regulation can sometimes lead to reduced intake of nutrition and calories. The removal of the duodenum and the jejunum is critical in this case, as these are the areas responsible for absorption of calcium and iron.

In menstruating women, malabsorptive gastrointestinal procedures can cause anemia. It also increases the chances of osteoporosis in older people.