Excellent nutritional status BEFORE surgery leads to BETTER healing
Jun 01, 2024
There is irrefutable evidence that your presurgical nutrition status affects the outcome of your healing. We've known for a long time things like overall nutritional status before surgery can help predict how well a person will heal after surgery. In the very sick we've done our best to optimize their nutrition before surgery so that we reduce wound healing issues after surgery.
Protein has been the most basic focus of presurgical nutrition for many decades. However, over time we've learned that it's more complex than simply eating extra protein. There are a complex series of events that occur during the healing process that rely on co-factors such as Vitamin C and Zinc.
The healing process starts with collagen as the building blocks. There are 5 major type of collagen in the body. Since we can't absorb collagen through our gut, we need to give our body the basic components of collagen to use for healing. Adequate protein is a major starting point. Adding cofactors to help with collagen crosslinking is essential.
Numerous studies have shown that supplementation with Vitamin C and Zinc prior to surgery not only lead to better wound healing but also better scar appearance.
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