Chips used to be something you ate with fish (if you are British) or a sandwich (if you are an American). But the technology kind of “chips” may soon be used to lower calorie intake.
If successful, these chips could lead to healthier lifestyles for those who eat too much. The study will use an intelligent, chip-operated electronic implant. It will be tested in animals first to see if it can someday lower calorie intake in obese human patients.
Eager researchers say it can read “the chemical signature of appetite in the vagus nerve” – thereby lessening the number of calories consumed, the BBC reported.
If animal tests work out alright, it may be tested on human beings within three years. It is seen as an option to weight-loss surgery.
The research is led by Chris Toumazou and Stephen Bloom, who both teach at Imperial College in London.
The intelligent chip will monitor readings and send related electrical signals to the brain to lessen the need/urge to eat, the BBC explained.
"This is a really small microchip and on this chip we've got the intelligence which can actually model the neural signals responsible for appetite control," Toumazou told the BBC. "And as a result of monitoring these signals we can stimulate the brain to counter whatever we monitor. It will be control of appetite rather than saying don't eat completely. So maybe instead of eating fast you'll eat a lot slower."
The vagus nerve is known for communicating between the brain and the digestive tract, news reports said.
In addition, Bloom also worked on a recent study which shows that a new treatment using two hormones can reduce appetite, Imperial College reported. It used glucagon and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and could treat obesity and diabetes in future applications.
Also, EnteroMedics has developed its own implant which can block the vagus nerve by the use of electrical impulses, the BBC adds. Also, IntraPace uses vagus nerve stimulation to lessen the amount of food eaten.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
