medicine
Lose weight without chemicals: Vibrating pill is supposed to satisfy constant hunger
Weight loss products are often very popular – but their consumption is not always healthy
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Losing weight is a challenge. Either it requires iron discipline, complicated interventions or chemical solutions. A new pill from researchers in the USA is supposed to change that.
“Effective therapies for obesity require invasive surgical and endoscopic procedures or high patient adherence, making it difficult for patients with obesity to effectively treat their disease.” With these words begins the summary of a research work carried out by a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School published on the science portal “Science.org”.
The result of this work should be a kind of pill that patients who want to reduce their weight can take. However, this is not a new edition of the Wegovy and Ozempic weight loss syringes (you can find out more here), but rather a chemical-free alternative that is based on vibrations.
Weight loss pills are intended to send a “full signal” to the body
You can imagine it like this: There is a small vibration motor and battery in the pill, which is no larger than a standard vitamin tablet. If you swallow it, a membrane of the preparation dissolves through contact with stomach fluid. This activates the motor, which then runs for about half an hour. Through the vibrations, the pill sends a kind of “full signal” to the body, which leads to less food intake. The end result is that this should gently shed the pounds.
The researchers explain the effect like this: The movements of the pill activate receptors in the stomach, which usually only register after a large meal and signal the body that it is full. This should make patients less hungry. The scientists assure us that this already worked in an experiment with pigs: animals that had previously swallowed the pill ate around 40 percent less food.
Typical side effects of chemical preparations should be eliminated
Another advantage of vibration: So far, researchers are not aware of any side effects that can occur with known weight loss products. Patients who want to combat their excess weight with chemical agents repeatedly complain about stomach problems and digestive problems.
The current model of the so-called VIBES pill (vibrating Ingestible bOKeelectronic Sstimulator) is naturally excreted from the body after a meal. An alternative is already part of the work. The researchers write: “With improved energy transfer and charging technologies, implantable or gastric actuators could be developed that eliminate the need for repeated oral administration in patients requiring chronic therapy.”
But even the disposable preparations should hardly put a strain on the wallet: the research team assumes in its work that the cost of a pill, once it is mass-produced, should be a maximum of one US dollar. Until then, further development work is necessary: Next, the compatibility and effectiveness of the concept must be tested in humans.
Source: Science