A nerve-zapping headset caused people to shed fat in a small preliminary study.
Six people who had received the stimulation lost on average about 8 percent of the fat on their trunks in four months, scientists reported November 12 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
The headset stimulated the vestibular nerve, which runs just behind the ears. That nerve sends signals to the hypothalamus, a brain structure thought to control the body's fat storage. By stimulating the nerve with an electrical current, the technique shifts the body away from storing fat toward burning it, scientists propose.
Six overweight and obese people received the treatment, consisting of up to four one-hour-long sessions of stimulation a week. Because it activates the vestibular system, the stimulation evoked the sensation of gently rocking on a boat or floating in a pool, said study coauthor Jason McKeown of the University of California, San Diego.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:12PM
Applying about 10kV would guarantee the quick loss of all fat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:34PM
Or '64 tons' dropped from overhead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:37PM
Sounds messy. Who will clean up after the head bursts?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:40PM
Illegal immigrants?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 17 2016, @01:32AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:44PM
My memory was faulty.. it was 16 tons [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 17 2016, @01:16AM
64 tonnes ought to be enough for anybody.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:21PM
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:24PM
Ethanol Fueled, why you no login?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:27PM
Every troll is ethanol fuuuuueld.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:11PM
More like alcohol fueled!
I've seen EF make reasonable well thought out points, so maybe one day the trolling bit will get old and we can have a productive member of the SN community.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:13PM
-1 learn basic science
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:35PM
Dude should be methanol fueled.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday November 17 2016, @01:07AM
FOOF [sciencemag.org]
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:31PM
I've often noticed I'm hungry immediately after taking a dump. If only there were some way of simulating the effect of carrying around a huge load of shit. Could it be used for hunger suppression.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:37PM
Then get a job with Fox News ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:09PM
That is because your body has gotten accustomed to the "full" feeling. When I overeat I get the opposite, I'm too full and the thought of food makes me slightly nauseous. Yet I still managed to put on an extra bit of weight...
There is no easy solution for that feeling except discipline. Try to not have more food than needed in your system for at least 2-3 weeks and I bet that hungry feeling will diminish. Ok ok, drugs would probably do the trick to, but I don't recommend you become a pack a day smoker.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:46PM
no easy solution for that feeling except discipline
Moralizing scumbag, you're missing the point, as is typical of morons like you.
If a full rectum suppresses hunger, how about stimulating the rectum to suppress hunger. Shove a balloon up your ass to stretch your rectum, then you won't be motivated to eat.
You personally should try it, and make sure you over inflate and die, please.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 17 2016, @06:30AM
Simple solution to this one....
Just don't give a shit. Literally.
I can guarantee you that in a few hours, eating will be the last thing on your mind.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 17 2016, @06:04AM
Drinking a lot of water or unsweetened tea helps too I find. Water passes through you quickly, though, and if you have waaaaay too much it will cause hypo{kalaemia,natraemia,calcaemia,magnesaemia} so be careful.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:36PM
I'm going to talk about one of the internet's single most hated subjects: that being fat or thin isn't entirely down to personal discipline. +0 Disagree(x400) -1 Troll.
It's absolutely 100% true that you cannot help but lose weight if your calories in are less than your BMR+exercise calories. So no matter who you are, you have options to lose weight. I lost 75 pounds by feeling like I was starving for a several months. I needed to lose 40 more to get to an ideal weight and just... couldn't.
Buuuuuuuuuuuut, the way in which your body responds to surplus calories is deeply tied to numerous facets of your biology. The way your gut bacteria produce hunger hormones in response to certain foods, the connectivity of reward pathways in your brain(you could call that discipline I suppose), and things like this, that control signaling for adipose tissue development, versus usage and secretion. All of those factors affect how fat people get completely aside from their dietary and exercise habits. And a great many people are ideologically locked into the notion that these things are completely the responsibility of those who are out of shape.
Okay, I've said my piece. Please feel to lambast me with facts I probably freely acknowledge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:06PM
It is the human condition. We apply what we know about ourselves to the world at large. Personally I'm a fan of at least attempting to live and let live. Someone is fat? So what, live your own life. Now if they complain a lot about being overweight then they're opening the door to advice and criticism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:46PM
I've found weed works well for reasons I'm not sure I understand at all, especially considering the munchies.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:28PM
True. In a famine, even the most disciplined people usually cannot avoid getting thin. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Thursday November 17 2016, @12:54AM
No facts, just anecdotes:
I'm overweight, but I lose large amounts of it if I simply don't drink for a couple weeks. Somewhere on the order of 3-5 lbs a week, no exercise needed. I'm 32, so I'm not an old guy, but I'm hardly sporting an 16 year old's metabolism anymore. I can maintain my weight if I drink moderately (2-4 beers/night) throughout the week or binge a few times a week. Drinking heavily every day was what got me the weight gain in the first place. The types of booze I prefer is normally around 150-160 calories a pop, and I can put a 12-pack away in a night if I want to, and at times have done more, so it's not really hard to do that math on that one.
As a side note, I only eat once or twice a day and only consume around 750-1500 calories a day in food, but it's usually more if I've been exercising. I've been told many times that's unhealthy to do and I need to increase my caloric intake, but I've done it for long periods of time and felt fine, so I find little incentive in gorging myself. I'll actually feel gross if I go out to eat somewhere and eat the entire serving that's given to me. Just did the math on Chipotle's website, and the tacos the way I order them get me about 615 calories and that'd make about the largest lunch or dinner I would enjoy in one sitting as far as I'm concerned.
I dunno if there's a psychological element in there somewhere. I know my girlfriend is usually starving feeling if she doesn't eat 2000 calories or so a day, but I maybe it's just a case of "everyone's different".
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Thursday November 17 2016, @02:20AM
Jesus man, I wish I drank so I could give it up as a weight-loss device :) I do fall off the wagon with soda once in a while, but overall that just means my body compensates by eating less. And I tend to fall off the wagon as response to stress.
I am barely overweight according to BMI (25.5), but it seems as they say retarded since a lot of my weight gain was while building muscle (I gained 20 lbs, and now I am dropping it back down with another 6 left to go) because I stuffed myself with food else I could not lift the heavy weights after a whole day of work).
But sure I would love to use something other than a mix of starvation and anxiety as a diet-plan :)
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Thursday November 17 2016, @04:57AM
It's a thing. The better choice would have been to not start drinking to begin with. Sometimes I think of all the money spent over the years, but if it wasn't on that it would have been on something else I guess.
I barely touch soda. I'll have a Coke or Dr. Pepper maybe once a month. I don't normally eat anything sweet either. No candy, usually no junk food, minus a few tortilla chips and salsa lately here and there when the girlfriend gets some out. Interestingly, my response to stress is to typically NOT eat. I'll go a day or two without eating and then realize that I'm shaky and bad feeling because I haven't eaten.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:40PM
"Possible side effects include migraine headaches, bleeding ears, up to 90% loss in IQ points, and being mistaken for an extra in a zombie flick."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:19PM
You're sure it's non-lethal? Sign me up!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:15PM
However, so many possible things can come into play... Moderate electrostim can also alleviate depression, which leads to: bingo! fat loss. Being enrolled in a study that has people who call around and check up on you can also have similar effects - as small and preliminary as this study is, did they even have a real (sham stimulation) control group? Also, small studies are subject to random variations - study the same placebo 6 times and one of the trials is quite likely to show you what you want to see.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday November 16 2016, @11:30PM
Does actually floating in a pool also help?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 17 2016, @01:13AM
Nevermind.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Thursday November 17 2016, @09:16AM
Surely there is something else they could be doing for four hours per week that would facilitate weight loss?
(Score: 2) by engblom on Thursday November 17 2016, @12:46PM
From the abstract:
... between 20 and 40 hours of binaural GVS in a 0.5 Hz sinusoid as tolerated up to 2mA
Could they not have been writing out the voltage too? What they have given is just half the information.