An Experimental Weight Loss Procedure Literally Freezes Hunger Signals

In a new pilot study, doctors have shown that freezing the nerve that carries hunger signals to the brain may be able to lower a person’s appetite and help them lose weight. Dieting is difficult, and most people who try it don’t sustain it for long. In an alternative approach to weight loss, Dr. David Prologo, an interventional radiologist from Emory University School of Medicine, and his colleagues froze a nerve called the posterior vagal trunk in 10 people who were significantly overweight. Their research was presented at Society of Interventional Radiology’s 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting. The men and women in the study were categorized as having obesity (a body mass index (BMI) between 30 and 37) but did not meet the threshold for other interventions like gastric bypass surgery. In the study, doctors sedated them and inserted a needle into their backs; using CT guidance, they directed the needle to the posterior vagal trunk. The needle was filled with a gas that froze the needle and the surrounding nerve — a process that degenerates the part of the nerve connected to the brain and stops the signaling between the two. The entire procedure takes about 30 minutes and is painless, Prologo says. The same type of treatment has been used on different nerves to treat chronic pain. MORE: Why Your Diet Isn’t Working Everyone in the initial trial reported a lowered appetite and some weight loss. 53% of people reported “very much less appetite,&rd...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthytime Weight loss Source Type: news