"New weight-loss pump sucks food from stomach after meals"
At first I thought it must be an article from The Onion, but then I remembered (still before the caffeine kicked in, clearly!) I was reading the CBC's website - the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation -- a national, legitimate Canadian news source.
I truly cannot imagine gadgets like this bizarre stomach pump becoming mainstream, but it also makes me shake my head in wonder that we, as a society, are even thinking up and desigining such gadgets.
While I understand and appreciate that different people have different issues and reasons for needing to lose weight, and sometimes not being able to. I really do get that. But really, an "Aspire Assist"? An implanted stomach pump?
What secondary medical conditions will it potentially cause, such as anemia, from draining too much Intrinsic Factor from the stomach, and not to mention the risk of infection.
This is just sad.
Here's to healthy living: making an effort to eat well and commit to exercising even 10 minutes a day. (Exercise-can you spare 10 minutes a day?)
It may not be a perfect solution for everyone, and may not give the quick and easy results that some people want, and yes, it does take some effort, but in my opinion, it is ultimately the best solution to living a healthier life.
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New weight-loss pump sucks food from stomach after meals
The AspireAssist Aspiration Therapy System pumps food out of an obese patient's stomach through a skin-port and tube. (Aspire Bariatrics)
A new that device that lets people eat as much as they want, while still losing weight, is now available to consumers in Europe - but they'll need a pretty strong stomach to handle it.
The AspireAssist is essentially a self-operated stomach pump designed to help combat obesity.
It works by allowing a patient to empty food from their stomach straight into the toilet after eating through a tube connected to an access-port in the abdomen.
The device can be implanted during a short outpatient procedure that manufacturer Aspire Bariatrics calls "minimally-invasive and completely reversible at any time."
According to the company, the stomach-emptying (or "aspiration") process should be performed approximately 20 minutes after every full meal is finished.
"Over the first hour after a meal, the stomach begins breaking down the food, and then passes the food on to the intestines, where calories are absorbed," explains the website. "The AspireAssist allows patients to remove about 30 per cent of the food from the stomach before the calories are absorbed into the body, causing weight loss."
The system has been developed into a commercial product and received the European CE Mark of approval in 2011. Clinical trials are ongoing in the U.S., but it has not yet been FDA approved.
Aspire Bariatrics recently filed a patent for the system with award-winning engineer Dean Kamen's name among the inventors listed. Kamen is best known for creating the Segway Personal Transporter.
As icky as the aspiration process may seem (some are criticizing the AspireAssist a type of high-tech bulimia machine,) GizMag's Brian Dodson points out that similar stomach feeding ports have been used in patients for decades with very few complications.
The company touts the tool as a less expensive and less surgically invasive alternative to gastric bypass surgery, which operates on the same principal of removing some food from the stomach before it can enter the intestines.
The AspireAssist is essentially a self-operated stomach pump designed to help combat obesity.
It works by allowing a patient to empty food from their stomach straight into the toilet after eating through a tube connected to an access-port in the abdomen.
The device can be implanted during a short outpatient procedure that manufacturer Aspire Bariatrics calls "minimally-invasive and completely reversible at any time."
According to the company, the stomach-emptying (or "aspiration") process should be performed approximately 20 minutes after every full meal is finished.
"Over the first hour after a meal, the stomach begins breaking down the food, and then passes the food on to the intestines, where calories are absorbed," explains the website. "The AspireAssist allows patients to remove about 30 per cent of the food from the stomach before the calories are absorbed into the body, causing weight loss."
The system has been developed into a commercial product and received the European CE Mark of approval in 2011. Clinical trials are ongoing in the U.S., but it has not yet been FDA approved.
Aspire Bariatrics recently filed a patent for the system with award-winning engineer Dean Kamen's name among the inventors listed. Kamen is best known for creating the Segway Personal Transporter.
As icky as the aspiration process may seem (some are criticizing the AspireAssist a type of high-tech bulimia machine,) GizMag's Brian Dodson points out that similar stomach feeding ports have been used in patients for decades with very few complications.
The company touts the tool as a less expensive and less surgically invasive alternative to gastric bypass surgery, which operates on the same principal of removing some food from the stomach before it can enter the intestines.
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