{"id":1231,"date":"2014-01-30T17:28:49","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T06:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2014-01-30T17:28:49","modified_gmt":"2014-01-30T06:28:49","slug":"this-balloon-is-not-a-magic-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1231","title":{"rendered":"This balloon is not a magic pill"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>pity about the $2000 cost&#8230; reckon it&#8217;ll work.<\/li>\n<li>Left in stomach for 3 months<\/li>\n<li>Can have up to three of them in the stomach at a time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2014\/01\/this-weight-loss-pill-turns-into-a-balloon-to-fill-your-stomach\/283399\/<\/span><\/p>\n<h1>This Weight-Loss Pill Turns Into a Balloon to Fill Your Stomach<\/h1>\n<div>A novel treatment in clinical trials<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/james-hamblin\/\" rel=\"author\">JAMES HAMBLIN<\/a><time datetime=\"2014-01-28T10:13:00-05:00\">JAN 28 2014, 10:13 AM ET<\/time><\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"line-height: 1.5;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.05.23_AM\/7eedf199e.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"319\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<figure><figcaption>Spire Healthcare\/Vimeo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>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 &#8220;push back from the table sooner.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The idea is that balloons partly fill your stomach to make you feel full, so you eat less. They are too big and buoyant to pass beyond the stomach. After twelve weeks, a doctor deflates the balloons and pulls them back out through your mouth.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.08.28_AM\/1b708a595.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"320\" \/><figcaption>Swallow the pill attached to the thin tube. (Spire Healthcare\/Vimeo)<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.08.48_AM\/ec7f8f8de.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"319\" \/><figcaption>It&#8217;s weird, but just swallow it.<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.08.58_AM\/1a4049005.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"318\" \/><figcaption>Down the throat<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.09.08_AM\/869e22474.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"321\" \/><figcaption>Down the esophagus<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.09.29_AM\/355d093ba.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"320\" \/><figcaption>Into the stomach<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.09.55_AM\/533afa815.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"319\" \/><figcaption>Doctor pumps air through the tube to inflate the balloon<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.10.15_AM\/a6cb9a27c.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"320\" \/><figcaption>Doctor detaches the tube and pulls it out of your mouth<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.10.39_AM\/298564901.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"319\" \/><figcaption>Orange food pours into the stomach. The balloon occupies space.<br \/>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/newsroom\/img\/posts\/2014\/01\/Screen_Shot_2014_01_28_at_9.11.20_AM\/baf3be7d6.png\" width=\"570\" height=\"320\" \/><figcaption>The balloon has made a friend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis balloon will act to educate [people] about portion size and retrain their brain and their mindset a little,\u201d Dr. Sally Norton, a U.K. bariatric surgeon, told CBS News.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">&#8220;Health experts warn that the balloon is not a magic pill.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>My initial reaction was the same as that of fitness expert\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehardedge.com\/about-us\/\">Tim Bean<\/a>. This balloon procedure does not make the stomach smaller, and seems like it could possibly make it bigger. I&#8217;m intrigued by the idea but skeptical of its long-term effectiveness. It also\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/1198217\/obesity-gastric-balloon-technology-launched\">costs<\/a>\u00a0\u00a32,000 ($3,321).<\/p>\n<p>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?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>pity about the $2000 cost&#8230; reckon it&#8217;ll work. Left in stomach for 3 months Can have up to three of them in the stomach at a time. http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2014\/01\/this-weight-loss-pill-turns-into-a-balloon-to-fill-your-stomach\/283399\/ This Weight-Loss Pill Turns Into a Balloon to Fill Your Stomach A novel treatment in clinical trials JAMES HAMBLINJAN 28 2014, 10:13 AM ET Spire Healthcare\/Vimeo This &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1231\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">This balloon is not a magic pill<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healthy-habits","category-nutrition","category-silly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1232,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1231\/revisions\/1232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}