Could This Inflatable Balloon Pill Help You Lose Weight?

How far would you go to lose weight?
How far would you go to lose weight?

By Susan E. Matthews, Everyday Health

Americans are constantly on the prowl for the next quick-fix weight loss solution, and last week they found it in a pill that inflates into a balloon in your stomach. The idea is that the balloon fills up part of your stomach, forcing you to eat less over the three months it will remain there, until it is extracted backwards through the throat.

RELATED: 6 Habits That Lead to Weight Loss

While this idea seems like a simple solution to the trials and tribulations most people face when it comes to dieting, it's not quite the magic bullet many people crave. For one thing, it's not available in the United States - the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved it - and the company behind the balloon pill, Obalon, is still conducting tests to prove its efficacy. The pill is available in Europe, and just became available in the U.K. (spurring the media flurry), though it can cost up to £4,000, or $6,500. Moreover, because it's technically a device and not a medication, the standards for proving its efficacy are much lower, leaving some doctors wondering whether it's worth it.

Problems with the Balloon Pill

"The balloon is a very old idea," said Daniel Bessesen, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, member of the Endocrine Society, and chief of endocrinology at Denver Health Medical Center. "The first clinical trials were in the 1990s, and the results were quite discouraging." Many people experienced pain, nausea and vomiting with the balloon, and sometimes the balloon could either inflate in the throat, collapse, or move into the small intestine, requiring surgery for its removal. The new Obalon pill does not require a surgery, but does require an endoscopic removal (taking it back out through the mouth), during which the patient will be sedated.

RELATED: Mindful Eating: The Get-Slim Skill You Need to Master

Obalon actually uses smaller balloons than those of the past, and a patient can decide if she wants one, two or three balloons, which would be placed in the stomach incrementally over time. The balloons are also filled with gas rather than saline, which keeps it buoyant in the stomach.

Dr. Bessesen said he still worried that the device might necessitate an emergency surgery in the event it got caught. "There are diet options that can work and won't put you at risk of surgery," he said. Obalon lists the possible side effects as initial cramping and discomfort and possible nausea and vomiting, noting that people will have to take acid-reducing medication while using the product. PubMed, run by the National Institutes of Health, warns that possible complications could include injury to the stomach or esophogus, a gastric ulcer, or "deflation of the balloon (which could result in bowel obstruction - which can be potentially fatal)."

RELATED: The 1-Hour Workout That Gets Ciara THIS Bod

Weight management falls into three categories: diet and exercise, medication and devices, Bessesen said. Medications tend to incur a 10 percent weight loss, surgery can incur between 15 to 30 percent weight loss, and experts predict the new pill could incur loss somewhere in between these two options. In an Obalon trial, the average weight loss was 16 pounds for obese women over the three-month period, according to PubMed.

Putting a balloon in the stomach is somewhat similar to getting a gastric bypass, as it fills up part of the stomach making it actually difficult to overeat. It's not exactly the same, because a gastric bypass not only shrinks the stomach, it also alters how food is absorbed in the small intestine, noted Caroline Apovian, MD, director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center.

"It's not a temporary bypass - it's a temporary partial bypass," Dr. Apovian said.

PubMed recently posted an article about Obalon, concluding that: "As yet little research into the effectiveness of this recent product has been undertaken. It may help weight loss but is unlikely to be a magic cure for obesity."

Introducing the Gel Pill

Several other similar methods are currently being developed. For example, Apovian has been working to develop another device, called Gelesis, which is a pill that creates a gel in your stomach - filling up space and inducing the feeling of fullness - that then would pass through the digestive system normally, like food does.

"Gelesis is not meant to produce the same amount of weight loss as a gastric bypass, which could help you lose 100 pounds or more," Apovian said. "These are going to be less aggressive."

RELATED: Healthy Food Finds: Midday Munchies

They're also only designed for people who are seriously overweight, not the casual dieter. While gastric bypass surgery is reserved for people who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 40, the Gelesis pill is designed for someone with a BMI over 30 (the start of obesity), or people with a BMI over 27 and another health risk caused by weight, such as diabetes. (Obalon has the same pre-requisites.)

"Even though you swallow it, it shouldn't be something that anybody can just buy," Apovian said, adding that Gelesis is in clinical trials now and could be available with a prescription within one year. She also noted that the price will likely be between $50-$200 a month, which is substantially cheaper than Obalon.

Problems Beyond the Pill

More than that, people shouldn't expect the pill to solve all their troubles with food. Apovian noted that even with gastric bypass surgery, people tend to start gaining weight back after two years. Even more so, either method will limit the amount of food you're able to eat, so in order to be healthy, people will need to switch their diets to consume high-quality, nutrient dense food to get all the vitamins and minerals they need on a reduced intake, Bessesen said.

In order for the method to be effective for weight loss, people will have to combine the pill therapies with healthier meals, and will have to maintain the change after they stop treatment for the weight loss to be maintained.

Ultimately, neither pill solves the perpetual downfall with dieting - people's inability to do it long-term.

"The problem is not that people don't know how to eat less food, they don't know how to sustain that," Bessesen said. "Once the balloon is gone, the weight loss is gone."

MORE ON EVERYDAY HEALTH:

Jillian Michaels: How to Stay Motivated While Making Changes
8 Bizarre Public Health Laws You Might Be Breaking
If You Can't Get Him to Eat Healthy, Maybe an NFL Player Can
7 Foolproof Dinners Anyone Can Make in a Flash

This article originally appeared on EverydayHealth.com: Could This Inflatable Balloon Pill Help You Lose Weight?