Health : The Atlantic: This Weight-Loss Pill Turns Into a Balloon to Fill Your Stomach

Health : The Atlantic Health news and analysis on The Atlantic.

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This Weight-Loss Pill Turns Into a Balloon to Fill Your Stomach Jan 28th 2014, 15:13, by James Hamblin Spire Healthcare/Vimeo This is the Obalon system. It is a pill that has a balloon inside. Obalon is a weight-loss device, marketed as an alternative to bariatric surgery, that claims to help people eat less and "push back from the table sooner." Obalon begins to work when you swallow Obalon and it lands in your stomach. Obalon remains temporarily attached to a thin tube, through which doctors can inflate it. They then remove the thin tube, and the balloon stays in your stomach for up to three months, bobbing around like buoy in gastric waters. You can take up to three at a time, the manufacturers say. The ideas is that it partly fills the stomach to make the person feel full. Swallow the pill attached to the thin tube. (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   It's weird, but just swallow it. (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)    Down the throat (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   Down the esophagus (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   Into the stomach(Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   Doctor pumps air through the tube to inflate the balloon (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   Doctor detaches the tube and pulls it out of your mouth (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   Orange food pours into the stomach. The balloon occupies space. (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo)   The balloon has made a friend. (Spire Healthcare/Vimeo) "This balloon will act to educate [people] about portion size and retrain their brain and their mindset a little," Dr. Sally Norton, a U.K. bariatric surgeon, told CBS News. "Health experts warn that the balloon is not a magic pill." My initial reaction was the same as that of fitness expert Tim Bean. This balloon procedure does not make the stomach smaller, and seems like it could possibly make it bigger. I'm intrigued by the idea but skeptical of its long-term effectiveness. It also costs £2,000 ($3,321). The Obalon balloon pill is approved for investigational use only in the U.S. However, it is approved in the E.U. and is available in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Spain. What better way to see Europe than with expensive stomach balloons?

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