New skin patch could one day DISSOLVE your muffin top, experts reveal
Tests on mice fed a high fat diet reduced their body fat by more than 30 per cent over four weeks
A NEW skin patch could one day be used to dissolve you tummy fat, experts claim.
The wearable patch will deliver drugs that are known to turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat through micro-needles.
Tests on mice fed a high fat diet reduced their body fat by more than 30 per cent over four weeks.
The patch contains hundreds of micro-needles, each thinner than a human hair, that contain the fat busting drugs.
When the patch is pressed onto the skin the micro-needles embed themselves into the skin and detach from the patch.
As the needles dissolve the drugs are released into the body.
The research, from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, was published in the journal Small Methods.
Assistant Professor Xu Chenjie, who co-authored the research, said: "With the embedded micro-needles in the skin of the mice, the surrounding fats started browning in five days, which helped to increase the energy expenditure of the mice, leading to a reduction in body fat gain.
"The amount of drugs we used in the patch is much less than those used in oral medication or an injected dose.
"This lowers the drug ingredient costs while our slow-release design minimises its side effects."
His colleague Professor Chen Peng, added: "What we aim to develop is a painless patch that everyone could use easily, is unobtrusive and yet affordable.
"Most importantly, our solution aims to use a person's own body fats to burn more energy."
Further testing is needed before it will be available for use on people.
Obesity levels in the UK have more than trebled in the last 30 years and, on current estimates, more than half the population could be obese by 2050, according to the NHS.
About 27 per cent of the UK population is considered obese and a further 34 per cent are considered overweight, according to the latest Government statistics.
Being obese greatly increases a persons chances of developing deadly diseases like type two diabetes, 11 different types of cancer, stroke and heart disease.
World Cancer Research Fund estimates 25,000 cases of cancer could be prevented every year in the UK alone if everyone was a healthy weight.
According to the World Health Organisation heart disease was the biggest killer in 2015 followed by stroke, both of which were responsible for 15 million deaths worldwide.
Your risk of both heart disease and stroke is greatly increased if you are overweight or obese.
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