Question:
How necessary are Bile Salts?

I have heard and read many conflicting views on the necessity of Bile Salts. Have you taken them and happy you did? Have you not taken them and then lost your gallbladder? Thanks!    — John T. (posted on January 7, 2003)

January 6, 2003
Post-op as of Sept. 14. 2001. I took them for the full six months as required by my surgeon. I still developed a stone, though it is just one stone, not a lot of small ones. I will have it removed in the next month or so.
   — Marie A.

January 7, 2003
I listen to a Board Certified Naturopath every day on our local talk radio station, and she has a company that makes liquid vitamins & minerals which I will be using after my surgery (already do now). She says that bile salts are necessary for anyone who is without a gallbladder to break down and properly assimilate fats & proteins. Bile salts help prevent discomfort and indigestion-type problems associated with the lack of a gallbladder when you eat a lot of protein or a little too much fat (hey maybe it will help a little with dumping). She is adamantly against removal of the gallbladder unless it is diseased, and she has "recipes" for "flushing" out gallstones and keeping the gallbladder from becoming sluggish. Pretty much everyone gets gallstones eventually, it depends on the diet, water consumption, etc. as to whether they begin to bother someone. Now, she doesn't necessarily address WLS patients' special digestive systems, but I believe this would apply to us, and help us to absorb nutrients better. I could be completely wrong, but I don't see how... Her product is Ox-Bile and her website is www.starrwalker.com.
   — cddgo

January 7, 2003
As a follow-up to my previous answer, too little WATER has a lot to do with the creation of gallstones because your own natural bile becomes thicker.
   — cddgo