Dieters everywhere know that, no matter how inventive a chef you may be, nothing leaves you buzzing like sugary or fatty food.
Now science might have the answer: a vibrating pill, swallowed before eating, that creates feelings of fullness.
The research, which has yet to be carried out in humans, shows that after 30 minutes of activity by the Vibes pill, pigs ate on average almost 40% less food in the following half hour than they did without the device, and gained weight more slowly.
The Vibes name is an acronym derived from the pill’s full title – Vibrating Ingestible BioElectronic Stimulator.
The work in pigs suggests the vibrations activate stretch receptors in the stomach, simulating the presence of food.
This results in signals being sent to the hypothalamus in the brain via the vagus nerve, increasing levels of various hormones that give rise to a feeling of fullness and decreasing those that result in feelings of hunger.
“We envision the Vibes pill being ingested on a relatively empty stomach 20 to 30 min before anticipated meals to trigger the desired sensation of satiety early in the meal,” the team write, adding that when produced at scale, the cost of the pills is expected to be in the cents to one dollar range.
The vibrations, which are powered by a battery encased in the swallowed capsule, can be triggered when stomach acid dissolves a membrane around the pill, or by a timer.
The researchers say the pills, which are about the size of a large vitamin tablet, offer a non-invasive, temporary therapy, without the need for weight-loss surgery, and exit the body with other solid waste – meaning in humans they are flushed down the toilet.
However they suggest it could be possible to develop pills that are implanted, or stay in the stomach, to reduce the need for people to repeatedly take them, should they require continuing therapy.
“This approach offers an alternative and potentially synergistic approach to other therapies available today,” said Giovanni Traverso, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an author of the research.
The pill does not involve the use of drugs which can carry significant side-effects, he added.
Recently, initial excitement over “skinny jabs” such as Wegovy has been tempered by some people experiencing problems such as constantly feeling nauseous.
The firm behind Wegovy, Novo Nordisk, is one of the funders of the research into the vibrating pill.