Snipping away at obesity
Researchers are revisiting old ucler operations as a possible alternative to obesity surgery.
It's called the vagus nerve, and some patients who have had it cut, have shown weight loss. There are critics, of course, but so far 30 patients had a vagus snip at the University of Rochester, and while the study isn't complete, out of the 11 who are a year past surgery, all but one are shedding pounds.
From the Associated Press story:
Enter the vagus nerve, which snakes from the brain to the abdomen, with fibers reaching into multiple organs with different effects. Among them: The nerve spurs gastric acid production, and in the 1970s, surgery to cut where it attaches to the front and back of the stomach brought ulcer sufferers great relief — after they recovered from open-abdominal surgery. Once better acid-reducing medications came along, this arduous operation was abandoned.Yet surgeons at the time noticed, and subsequent animal studies confirmed, that these vagotomies could trigger weight loss. In addition to a less acidic stomach's slower digestion, the vagus helps control appetite-stimulating brain hormones and signals our bodies to store more fat.