The FDA Approved Weight Loss Surgery that Pulls Food Out of the Stomach
The FDA has approved a new form of weight-loss surgery where the patient can physically removed up to 30 percent of undigested food from their stomach.
How does it work? With AspireAssist, a surgeon implants a port into a person's stomach. About 30 minutes after eating a typical meal, the patient uses a pump to pull the undigested food out of their stomach. and the discarted food will go straight into the toilet while still allowing the person to eat without feeling deprived.
Doctors estimate patients will dump 30 percent of the total calories eaten, and preliminary studies showed that it more than tripled the amount of weight lost.
There are some skeptics of AspireAssist. The mechanics sound very similar to a hack eating disorder patients use in treatment centers, using their feeding tubes to get rid of eaten food, a like purging without vomiting.
Of course, doctors vow to be careful of who gets the AspireAssist. Patients who are 22 or older with a BMI of 35 or higher are likely candidates (no mention of screening patients for eating disorders, though).
The FDA says that this is not a permanent weight loss solution. However, there is no timeline given for patients to stop using AspireAssist. Doctors also suggest patients should receive counseling to learn how to make healthier eating habits and choices.
As a weight-loss patient (lapband, but that's another story for another time), the AspireAssist is probably the most visual form of weight-loss surgery. But how can doctors call it a less-extreme form of it? People get uncomfortable when I have a problem digesting food. How are people supposed to react when they see someone physically remove food from their body?!
As for the doctors' recommendation of counseling for weight-loss surgery, they're right...sort of. Anyone who ever sat through health class knows what to eat, but a WLS patient should get counseling for how to deal with people and themselves once they start losing weight. SaveSaveSave