Smart 'Gastric Balloon': New Obesity Treatment!

The working principle of this type of balloon is quite simple: before meals, the balloon will be inflated to create a false feeling of fullness, limiting the amount of food intake. After meals, the balloon will automatically deflate.

Intragastric balloon placement for obesity treatment is a procedure that inserts an inflatable balloon into the stomach using an endoscope to create a feeling of fullness, thereby reducing the amount of food consumed daily.

Picture 1 of Smart 'Gastric Balloon': New Obesity Treatment!
Until now, scientists are still continuously researching and finding more effective treatments for obesity. (Source: nivaranhealth).

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently successfully developed a smart ball that can help people control their weight and lose weight effectively.

According to research published on December 3 in the journal Device, the operating principle of this type of balloon is quite simple: before each meal, the balloon will be inflated to create a false feeling of fullness, limiting the amount of food intake. After the meal is finished, the balloon will automatically deflate.

In animal tests, the results showed that the ball's ability to control hunger was remarkable. Specifically, the amount of food consumed by the animals was reduced by up to 60% compared to normal.

"Our idea is to create a flexible adjustable gastric balloon. The balloon would be inflated before meals to suppress hunger, then deflated between meals," said Professor Giovanni Traverso, one of the study's lead authors.

This is considered a breakthrough in the field of obesity treatment, especially for those who do not want surgery or do not respond well to weight loss drugs.

Obesity is the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body. This condition affects health and increases the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and some cancers.