#WeightLossGoals: Ditch diet and simply pop these ‘gas-filled balloons’

Gas-filled balloons -- this is the latest treatment in the fight against the bulge. So, now could safely ditch those extra kilos without going in for a diet or exercising.

If you have tried every trick in town to knock off those extra kilos and haven’t succeeded so far, don’t lose hope. A new treatment where you swallow gas-filled balloons could be the way out. The treatment enables people to eat less and, thereby, deal with obesity.

Lead researcher Shelby Sullivan, MD and director of bariatric endoscopy at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO (Missouri), said new balloon system could help patients lose almost twice as much weight compared with lifestyle changes alone, adding this is very important because weight loss is very difficult and a significant number of people are not successful in achieving their weight loss goals with diet changes and exercise.

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According to public health experts, more than 640 million people globally have obesity (defined as a BMI of more than 30), and there are more people considered overweight than normal or underweight in the world.

Read: Lack of physical activity making Punjab residents prone to obesity, says PGI

Weight loss is very difficult and a significant number of people are not successful in achieving their weight loss goals with diet changes and exercise.

Read: World’s obese population | 641 million of us are fat and that’s worrying

Dr. Sullivan and her team also found that 64.3 percent of individuals who received the Obalon balloon achieved at least a five percent total body weight loss, compared to only 32 percent of the control group. Individuals in the Obalon balloon treatment group experienced improvements in their systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

The study is presented in the meeting of Digestive Disease Week.