Pill that swells in your stomach and makes you feel full.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-06-29 10:59pm

BBC wrote: Pill to make dieters 'feel full'
Italian scientists have developed a pill that expands in the stomach to make dieters feel full.

They liken the effect to eating a bowl of spaghetti and say the pill can stop hunger for a few hours.

It is made from a hydrogel, which the team developed when trying to make more absorbent nappy linings, and may help in the battle against obesity.

So far it has been tested on 20 people but experts warned bigger trials would be needed to test safety.

Professor Luigi Ambrosio, lead researcher on the study at Italy's National Research Council, realised when they developed the hydrogel it may have a similar effect to gastric banding - a surgical procedure that reduces the size of the stomach.

The tiny pill is powdery when dry but when swallowed with a glass of water turns to a jelly-like ball in the stomach.

It is made from an organic compound called cellulose and can be flushed out by the body.

The pill, which has yet to be named, is being tested in a further 90 overweight volunteers who will be monitored to see how much weight they lose and if there are any adverse effects.

Small portions

Professor Ambrosio said the pill should be taken about 30 minutes to one hour before each meal.

It passes through the digestive system within five to six hours.

"One of our researchers tried the pill - he took it at about 11am and was still full at six in the evening.

"It's like eating a bowl of spaghetti."

He said people could still eat a meal but would only need small portions.

"We expect the results of the trial in October and they we will try to launch the product in May 2008."

Professor Paul Hatton, leader of the Biomaterials Research Group at the University of Sheffield said the idea was "intuitive".

"There are plenty of ways of making hydrogels that are safe, they are used in medicines and prostheses.

"In principle it seems possible but there would have to be a lot of safety testing."

Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum said there had been products around for many years which had tried to produce a feeling of fullness.

"The theory has been tried and tested in the past but it's not been that successful.

"We'd need much bigger trials but it's a reasonable enough idea.

"However, it would have to be given with the appropriate nutritional advice, you can't live on such tablets."
Story from BBC NEWS

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2007-06-29 11:04pm

I'll stick to speed, thank you...

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2007-06-29 11:21pm

I foresee a new type of suicide and/or liability lawsuit.

And it's messy.

bilateralrope · Post by **bilateralrope** » 2007-06-29 11:22pm

So how long till someone takes too many and bursts his stomach ?

fusion · Post by **fusion** » 2007-06-29 11:30pm

When it comes out as a market product...

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2007-06-29 11:42pm

Dear god. Do we really live in an age where the effing BBC uses the words "an organic chemical called cellulose"?

Incidentally, you can get a similar result by eating celery. Or grass, if you're on a really tight budget.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2007-06-30 12:57am

Feil wrote:Dear god. Do we really live in an age where the effing BBC uses the words "an organic chemical called cellulose"?

Incidentally, you can get a similar result by eating celery. Or grass, if you're on a really tight budget.

I think grass is something many prefer to smoke instead.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2007-06-30 01:06am

Problem is that people that eat too much don't tend to eat because they're hungry, they eat because they enjoy eating.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2007-06-30 02:37am

Feil wrote:Dear god. Do we really live in an age where the effing BBC uses the words "an organic chemical called cellulose"?

Incidentally, you can get a similar result by eating celery. Or grass, if you're on a really tight budget.

Odd...I've never noticed celery filling me up to any great degree.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2007-06-30 02:44am

It's because you'd have to eat a godawful amount of celery.

I wonder how the stuff deals with ingestion of soft drinks, as we all know that would/will be the typical Part B of the mix.

And you'd shit like a maniac.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2007-06-30 03:03am

ArmorPierce wrote:Problem is that people that eat too much don't tend to eat because they're hungry, they eat because they enjoy eating.

But it is harder to binge when your stomach feels completly full.

Zixinus · Post by **Zixinus** » 2007-06-30 09:33am

I can see some usefulness of this, but wouldn't this thing be dangerous if you eat it and not eat real food for a time? I can image diets being easier, but what can happen if you rely on this thing to ease hunger for too long?

I scary scenario, is that a timetraveller from the 50's goes into the future and find poor people taking pills. In the 50's time they thought that pills could be the food of the future. Instead, the time traveller finds out that the pills do not supply nutrients or anything, they just ease the hunger of the poor that cannot afford proper or real food.

Ermmm...yeah. Stupid, I know.

Anyway, who wants bets that some fashion model is going to starve herself to death (or pretty darn near to that) with this thing?

Astarial · Post by **Astarial** » 2007-06-30 10:28am

Molyneux wrote:
Feil wrote:Dear god. Do we really live in an age where the effing BBC uses the words "an organic chemical called cellulose"?

Incidentally, you can get a similar result by eating celery. Or grass, if you're on a really tight budget.
Odd...I've never noticed celery filling me up to any great degree.

I don't know whether celery actually expands in the stomach, but it gives you less calories than it takes to eat it, thus, there's a net weight loss when you eat celery.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2007-06-30 11:33am

I thought the old Cybergenics get buff quick system had an expanding pill in along with all the suplements. IIRC there ended up being some issues with the expanding pill bit of it. Like people having problems because they didn't fully digest, or got stuck in the colon. Something like that.

The shear volume that this pill expands is more than enough to keep me away from it. I'd rather risk one of those diet pills that is likely to make me crap my pants because it prevents the absorption of fat than risk the possibility of something like this getting stuck in my gut.

Not that I'd try the diet pill either.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-06-30 12:11pm

Eh, it's not that big, only about the size of a golfball if I'm looking at that right. Still seems like something the size of a golfball in your gut could cause problems...

Srynerson · Post by **Srynerson** » 2007-07-01 11:41pm

Tsyroc wrote:I thought the old Cybergenics get buff quick system had an expanding pill in along with all the suplements.

Right, the old ads for Dexatrim also showed something similar, with the capsule opening up in your stomach and the granules from inside of it swelling up.

Vampiress_Miyu · Post by **Vampiress_Miyu** » 2007-07-02 01:17am

I wonder how much money, research, and effort was put into this thing...

Zed Snardbody · Post by **Zed Snardbody** » 2007-07-02 02:58am

Vampiress_Miyu wrote:I wonder how much money, research, and effort was put into this thing...

To much?

Zixinus · Post by **Zixinus** » 2007-07-02 05:50am

To much?

Considering how incredibly hysteric allot of people in the USA are regarding fat, that doesn't come to a surprise.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2007-07-02 06:42am

ArmorPierce wrote:Problem is that people that eat too much don't tend to eat because they're hungry, they eat because they enjoy eating.

This is not always true. Problem is, obesity interferes with the absorption of the gut hormone that triggers a feeling of satiety and fullness, so you're less likely to feel 'full', so not only are you fat and hungry, but when you eat, you don't feel full.

So while feeling full would be nice to help some of these people lower intake, this is just the same as more food, which is really not too useful because of the broken hormone absorption. It'll lower caloric intake some because it's making you feel 'fuller' but it's doubtful if it's of any more use than the aforementioned "Eat a pile of celery or lettuce" way out.

Incidentially, carrots are another low-calorie filler. It may surprise some of the target audience for this that combining the three is called a salad, and is a holistic, alternative medicine product that can help decrease cravings naturally, as well as lowering the risk of colon cancer.

For the record, I'm hungry all the fucking time and it drives me batshit insane. Not like a little hungry, like I could eat a meal hungry. It's horrible, and honestly, something to make that go away would be worth me considering it. My weight is fine, but making sure it stays in the target zone is seriously a bitch. So there are at least some people who diet because they have to, and are nonetheless plagued by hunger. Kinda a niche group, because as we know it's just intended as a stupid "lose weight" miracle pill. It won't work for that.

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2007-07-02 07:56am

Covenant wrote:Incidentially, carrots are another low-calorie filler. It may surprise some of the target audience for this that combining the three is called a salad, and is a holistic, alternative medicine product that can help decrease cravings naturally, as well as lowering the risk of colon cancer.

The problem with this is that there are far too many people in America that, assuming they eat salads, will smother them in high fat, high calorie dressing.

Everyone always looks at me weird when I ask for a dry salad or sometimes when I ask for the dressing on the side, but they shouldn't, because restaurants, to me, always overdress their salads; to say nothing of the little calorie/sodium/fat bombs that dressings are.

Invictus ChiKen · Post by **Invictus ChiKen** » 2007-07-02 08:08am

I admit I am found of ranch dressing I try to mix in only a little bit of it however.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2007-07-09 12:38am

The Spartan wrote:
Covenant wrote:Incidentially, carrots are another low-calorie filler. It may surprise some of the target audience for this that combining the three is called a salad, and is a holistic, alternative medicine product that can help decrease cravings naturally, as well as lowering the risk of colon cancer.
The problem with this is that there are far too many people in America that, assuming they eat salads, will smother them in high fat, high calorie dressing.

Everyone always looks at me weird when I ask for a dry salad or sometimes when I ask for the dressing on the side, but they shouldn't, because restaurants, to me, always overdress their salads; to say nothing of the little calorie/sodium/fat bombs that dressings are.

I always forget about that. I hate salads almost as much as I hate any food product, but I choke one of the foetid weedpiles and chunks of wet paper down each day regardless because it's filler. The only thing I hate more than a salad though is salad dressing, so I always ask them to let mine be nude.