Electronic pill that helps you slim by tricking your tummy

An electronic pill that tricks the brain into thinking the stomach is full could help tackle obesity. The revolutionary device looks like an ordinary tablet, but it is packed with cutting-edge technology.

The experimental pill works in the same way as gastric pacemakers to suppress appetite.

A gastric pacemaker is an implant that is surgically placed in the stomach and wired to the vagus nerve. This nerve carries signals from the stomach to the hypothalamus, the area of the brain responsible for regulating appetite.The pacemaker has a sensor that detects when food is entering the stomach.

It then fires low-level electrical pulses into the vagus nerve to fool the brain into thinking the stomach has no more room.

Gastric pacemakers cost around £10,000 and are usually reserved for patients who don't respond to dieting, or who aren't suitable for more drastic gastric bypass surgery. They are not currently available on the NHS.

The latest invention, developed by Israeli firm MelCap Systems, can simply be swallowed with water and although the price has not been announced, it's likely to be much cheaper than a pacemaker.

Once swallowed, the high-tech tablet is externally controlled using a special mobile phone app. When it reaches the stomach a few minutes later, the app is used to trigger the release of a thin mesh.

This mesh stops the pill passing out of the stomach into the bowel.

A powerful magnetic patch is then applied to the skin to draw the pill into position over the site where the vagus nerve runs through the abdomen - near the top of the stomach just under the breastbone.

This magnetic patch is worn round the clock and holds the smart pill in place.

When it senses muscle contractions that tell it food is entering the stomach, the pill begins to transmit signals along the nerve to the brain to dampen down appetite. The pill is designed to disintegrate after three to four weeks.

Powerful acid in the stomach dissolves the mesh and the shell housing the tiny electronics, which then pass harmlessly out of the body as waste.

The patient can be given more pills if they still need to lose weight. The device is expected to enter clinical trials in the next year or so.

It remains to be seen if it suffers the same problem as some gastric pacemakers, where the vagus nerve quickly becomes used to the extra stimulation and ignores it.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, says: 'This technology is going in the right direction.

'But we don't know the cost and the NHS is getting very tough on price, even when medication is known to be effective.'

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