Weight loss pill could help you get slim WITHOUT exercise – tricking you into feeling full
A "FAT pill" could help millions lose weight by tricking their brains into feeling full, experts hope.
The capsule could be available in the next five years, after scientists in London were given the green light to start testing the drug in humans.
If found to be successful, the hope is that it could be a "major weapon" in solving the global obesity crisis.
The "fish oil-like" capsule works by suppressing the appetite - tricking the person into thinking they're full.
40 volunteers aged 18-75 are being recruited by scientists at Queen Mary University of London.
The first phase will involve 20 overweight (but not obese) participants, looking at whether it really does reduce appetite.
If that's successful, a second group of 20 volunteers will spend a further six months trialling the capsule and this time, they'll be obese, morbidly obese or on the waiting list for a gastric bypass.
Professor Ashley Blackshaw from Queen Mary University of London said: “All our volunteers have to do is swallow capsules before every meal when the body is ready to release lots of hormones, such as insulin.
“If the trials work, this could be a major weapon in tackling the obesity crisis and type 2 diabetes.
13 different cancers have been linked to obesity:
- breast (in women after the menopause)
- bowel
- womb
- oesophageal (food pipe)
- pancreatic
- kidney
- liver
- upper stomach (gastric cardia)
- gallbladder
- ovarian
- thyroid
- myeloma (a type of blood cancer)
- meningioma (a type of brain tumour)
This includes two of the most common types of cancer – breast and bowel cancers - and three of the hardest to treat – pancreatic, oesophageal and gallbladder cancers.
...and money for expensive weight loss surgeries
Weight-loss surgery has increased 30-fold in the last decade, Queen Mary scientists say.
More than 8,000 operations take place annually on the NHS, and many more through private clinics.
Also called bariatric surgery, it is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously overweight. Privately the costs are £5,000-£8,000 for a gastric band, and up to £15,000 for gastric bypass surgery.
You could take part in the trials
The group are still recruiting for volunteers.
Anyone wishing to be involved should email trials@bowelcancerresearch.org before March 1 2019, with their name, age and contact details.
The team is particularly keen to recruit volunteers in the South East of England as the trial is being conducted from Queen Mary University of London.
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