Although there’s no such thing as a weight loss miracle drug, a battery-free implant may offer the next best hope.
New weight loss technology
A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have designed a tiny, implantable device that appears to decrease hunger and help people with weight loss.
The flexible nanogenerator is less than 1 centimeter wide and can be easily implanted using a minimally invasive technique. The device works by sending small electrical pulses through the vagus nerve, which sends messages between the brain and stomach, convincing the brain that the stomach is full.
So, if it doesn’t rely on batteries, what powers the device to aid weight loss?
The churning motion of the stomach! This means that the signals are sent upon the arrival of food to the stomach (during peristalsis).
“The pulses correlate with the stomach’s motions, enhancing a natural response to help control food intake,” explains the study’s author, Xudong Wang, who teaches materials science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the research was conducted. “We successfully demonstrated this strategy on rats and achieved 38% weight loss in as short as 15 days without further rebound, exceeding all current electrical stimulation approaches.”
No side effects
The research, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, showed no infection and no measurable negative impacts on liver or kidney function. The implant stayed put for all 12 weeks of the trial.
Unlike gastric bypass surgery, the implant device doesn’t permanently change the capacity of the stomach and is fully reversible.
Unlike a similar device called Maestro, which has already been approved by the FDA, the new implant doesn’t require ongoing maintenance or charging. The Maestro requires both, including up to three hours of charging per week.
In addition, the Maestro uses high-frequency jolts to shut down the vagus nerve rather than only doing it during consumption. The constant jolt is more likely to cause the body to overcompensate, which can gradually reduce how effective the Maestro is over time.
