by Steven Reinberg
. Health reporter
Cost Of Faster Way To Fat Loss - Could Brain Stimulation Be a Way to Weight Loss?
Friday, (Health News) - Electrical brain stimulation can maintain potential as a weapon against obesity, a small study suggests.
The U.S. National Institutes of National Study have found that stimulating the pre-frontal cortex of the brain has made people eat less, consume fewer calories of soda and fat, and lose more weight. "Brain stimulation seems to be a useful tool to modify the prefrontal cortex activity, indicating the importance of mental processes in the development and treatment of obesity," said Lead researcher, Marci Gluck. She is an investigator at the National Diabetes Institute of U.S. National and Digestive and Renal Diseases.Gluck said previous laboratory studies of her found lower levels of brain activity in the left pre-frontal cortex of obese people after a meal compared to lean people.
This brain region has been associated with behavioral regulation, taste and reward, she said.It is possible that the interruption of this area in people who are obese can undermine the regulation of food behavior and choice of food, so that this region can be a potential target for the intervention in obesity, "said Gluck.
However, a preventive health specialist said he thinks brain stimulation can be a viable treatment for obesity is "absurd".I think the notion that, like a culture, we can be willing to continue spending money on junk foods that make us eat too much, get fat and get sick, and then spend more money on electrical jumps for our brains to help us To resist that alarming and absurd waste, "said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center.
For the study, nine obese volunteers were randomly assigned to three sessions of brain stimulation or false stimulation over nine days. Immediately after each session, study participants had unrestricted access to food and beverages on vending machines.
The same experiment was repeated in more than nine days. There were no significant differences in the side effects reported by any groups.
The discoveries can lead to new treatment options, Gluck said.
"Unfortunately, there are no interventions based on the gold standard brain for obesity and weight loss, but we hope that the findings of our study encourage more research in this area," she said.
Used stimulator is a small and portable device with sponge electrodes.
"If future studies show promising results, this technique could be used outside a medical environment," Gluck said. "Just as the light box became a domestic intervention to treat seasonal affective disorder, this device could be used at home to treat weight-related disorders."
The findings of this "concept proof" were presented Wednesday in Los Angeles in the week of obesity, a meeting organized by the American society of metabolic and bariatric surgery and the obesity society. The study was also published in the Online Edition of November 4 of obesity magazine.
Currently, researchers have a larger in progress study, Gluck said.
Katz said that the idea that electrical stimulation of brain regions can influence food intake and weight is interesting but not surprising.
"All decisions and perceptions are products of the mind, which are, in turn, products of the brain. Food decisions are among them," said Katz, who is also president of the American College of Medicine of Lifestyle .
But Katz believes that changing your lifestyle eating a healthy diet and keeping physically active is the way to reduce obesity.
"Although there may be rare applications for this technology, I would encourage those who see any kind of public health solution here to change their minds," Katz said.
