Another Blow Against Obesity! A Chip In Our Brain Prevents Us From Thinking About Food

Table of contents:

Video: Another Blow Against Obesity! A Chip In Our Brain Prevents Us From Thinking About Food

Video: Another Blow Against Obesity! A Chip In Our Brain Prevents Us From Thinking About Food
Video: How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli 2024, November
Another Blow Against Obesity! A Chip In Our Brain Prevents Us From Thinking About Food
Another Blow Against Obesity! A Chip In Our Brain Prevents Us From Thinking About Food
Anonim

Obesity is a big problem of our modern society. It covers more and more significant groups of people, and the age of those who have lost the battle with the weights is constantly falling.

The problem is serious because it affects not only the vision, which is undergoing colossal negative changes. Health is what the real danger is. Being overweight is due to a whole bunch of diseases, some of which end fatally.

How can humanity deal with this threat?

At the beginning of the battle with excess weight are the studies of specialists. One of the radical methods is the experiment with brain chip. It is placed on six very obese patients, and the essence of the experience is that through the device people stop thinking about food.

The chip, known as the responsive neurostimulation system, was developed by a medical technology company designed for people with epileptic seizures. When placed in the brain, this system monitors the activity of brain cells, and when it detects an action that precedes the seizure, it causes a slight electric shock in order to stop the seizure before it has occurred.

This technology has also been used in experiments with mice to suppress their eating behavior. The purpose of experiments with humans is to test whether it can not work in them to break the so-called uncontrolled eating.

Harmful and useful foods
Harmful and useful foods

The experiment is scheduled for five years with six volunteers who will have the chip transplanted. He must stay in them for at least a year and a half. For half a year the device will monitor the activity of the brain and only then will the stimulation be started, which will detect this activity of the brain cells, which are a signal for increasing the appetite. You need to check if the whole operation is safe and then if it has an effect.

This is not a way suitable for people who want to lose weight. These are severely obese patients who have failed to lose weight after gastric bypass and the implementation of any diets. These are patients who are literally dying of obesity.

The method, known as deep brain stimulation, used in Parkinson's patients has also been tested in obese patients. However, this method provides a continuous electric current, while the new development emits current only when it finds a pattern of activity in the desire to eat.

The big challenge will be to separate the brain's response to fatty foods from that of healthy foods, as well as other signals to meet the body's needs.

Anxieties are also associated with the appearance of possible depressive states, as well as loss of the ability to experience pleasure.

Recommended: