Video Story
Watch VideoShocking weight loss: no diet or exercise required
Bea Karnes
A new weight-loss shock therapy treatment is currently being tested at Scripps Clinic Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center in California.
The treatment involves no diet, no exercise, no pills and no surgery. The first FDA human trial of Entero-Medics V-BLOC therapy is under way. A device inserted beneath the skin emits electronic impulses that essentially block the signals that tell you you're hungry.
It targets the Vagus nerve, which sends hunger signals to your stomach. The device is designed to interrupt the signal with a painless electric shock. "The stomach is not contracting as much, so you feel full. You're eating less and getting full quicker," said Dr. Ken Fujioka, the lead investigator of the V-BLOC study.
The pacemaker-like device is surgically implanted near a patient's stomach. A belt, worn only during the day under the clothes, signals the device to shut down the stomach's nerve.
People must stick with the study for five years and not have ever had gastric bypass surgery. Fujioka said weight loss results are expected to last two years. "What's going to happen at the end of two to three years, we really don't know. It's the first time this is really being studied in humans," Fujioka said.
If the therapy is successful and doesn't have serious side effects, the company that designed the device will seek approval from the FDA.
