FDA approves new obesity fighting device that allows you to empty your stomach thorough a tube after you eat
Posted 11:48 PM, June 29, 2016, by Tanae Howard, Updated at 08:57AM, June 30, 2016
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new method to help obese people lose weight. And it's causing quite a stir in the health world. That's because the AspireAssist device allows you to eat as much as you want and then dump out some of that food through a tube.
A clinical trial participant shared his testimony on the AspireAssit YouTube page. He says he tried it after following a healthy eating and workout plan that produced slow results.
"After 9 months I only loss a few pounds. I just wasted almost a year with this thing doing what everyone told me to do and it didn't work," Hampus said.
It's like a stomach pump. A surgeon puts a tube in the patients stomach that’s connected to a valve on your abdomen.
Eat all you want and about 20 to 30 minutes later connect a tube to drain the stomach contents into the toilet. The device can remove about 30 percent of the calories consumed.
That’s a frightening idea for Dr. Anne Lewis with the IU Health Charis Center for Eating Disorders.
"Medically sanctioned purging in terms of weight loss. My concern would be we're setting up a whole different set of patients for bulimia. What happens when the device is no longer viable or something they can afford," Dr. Lewis said.
The FDA says the machine is for people 22 and older with a body mass index of 35 to 55 and who failed to lose weight with other non surgical weight loss methods.
Dr. Lewis is concerned by the need for instant gratification.
"It can be done by learning how to love your body. Love yourself and treat your body differently and well. I don't know if purging and still allowing yourself to consume those foods is going to fix that issue," Dr. Lewis said.
For more information from the FDA and to learn more about the health risks click here
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