Freeze the feeling of hunger

Scientists have learned how to fight obesity by freezing the vagus nerve

Evgenia Chernysheva, Naked Science

Despite the fact that today there are a huge number of ways to combat obesity, it still remains a problem of global importance. David Prologo, MD, an employee of the Emory University School of Medicine, and his colleagues decided to make life easier for obese people and performed a procedure that helped them safely and effectively get rid of excess weight.

The experiment involved 10 subjects with a body mass index (BMI) from 30 to 37, that is, with obesity of the first and second degree. During the procedure, radiologists inserted a needle into the patient's back and, guided by the image on a CT scanner, injected cryogenic argon gas into the posterior trunk of the vagus nerve in the cardia region.

Argon noble gas, due to its inert properties and low cost, is widely used in industry, everyday life and increasingly in medicine. And the vagus nerve, located at the base of the esophagus, is part of one of several mechanisms that "tell" the brain that the stomach is empty.

Experts observed the participants for 90 days after the experiment. All volunteers reported decreased appetite, improved well-being, and none of them experienced complications or side effects. The overall average weight loss was 3.6% of the original body weight, and the average decrease in BMI reached 14%. 

"According to the scientific literature, most weight loss programs do not have the desired effect, especially if they are associated with a decrease in the amount of food consumed," says Prologo. – When the stomach is empty, our body switches to "survival mode" and we are ready to eat everything that catches our eye. Freezing the vagus nerve does not suppress this natural biological reaction, but reduces the strength of the brain signal responsible for hunger, so we hope that our development will really benefit people." 

A press release published on the website of the Society of Interventional Radiology states that the results of the first trial need to be confirmed, since it was limited to a small sample and short observation of patients. Currently, scientists are recruiting a new group of people to not only verify the effectiveness of the method, but also to test it for "durability". 

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