The FDA recently approved a new, effective way to combat obesity. Their trial runs showed that patients who utilized this method were able to lose an average 12% of their body weight, as opposed to the 3% average of the control group.
The secret to this success?
Draining the stomach after every meal.
This new method of weight loss, AspireAssist, requires doctors to surgically insert a tube into the stomach that connects to the exterior of the body. About half an hour after each meal, an external device is connected to the port valve on the surface of the skin.
A lever is used to open the valve between the stomach and the outside of the body, and the tubing allows the contents of the stomach to drain out, into the toilet. Not all of the draining occurs automatically.
After the flow outward slows, the patient pumps clean drinking water – through the same external device – into the stomach in order to loosen more food for drainage. The entire process of food draining should remove about 30% of the food inside the stomach. What remains in the stomach will proceed through the normal digestion process.
The entire process, as the video states, only takes five to ten minutes, and seems – shockingly – simple, albeit disgusting.
However, there are side effects that the video fails to address. Draining the stomach of food can cause indigestion, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, and potential leaking of stomach fluids at the port valve site. Furthermore, the concept behind the device is already triggering discussions about eating disorders.
The potential for patients to abuse AspireAssist’s basic function is calling for the FDA to place strict regulations on those who do get to use the device, and how the device regulates the number of times a patient can drain food.
Much discussion continues to surround the introduction and use of the AspireAssist as a method of weight loss, so as of now, it seems uncertain whether this new development will take off.
