Experimental weight-loss procedure ‘burns’ stomach lining to curb food cravings

The future of weight loss looks more and more varied by the second. This week, scientists reported preliminary results from a small trial testing a new nonsurgical procedure for obesity, which works by burning off part of the mucus-filled stomach lining. Patients in the trial lost about 8% of their baseline weight and experienced a significant reduction in hunger.

The procedure is known as endoscopic mucosal ablation, which is a technical already used to remove pieces of precancerous or abnormal tissue from the digestive tract. Patients first drink a liquid to protect stomach tissue, then doctors send an endoscope through the esophagus to the upper part of the stomach, also called the gastric fundus. Once there, the endoscope ablates (burns) the moist inner lining of the fundus where mucus is produced and is abundant.

The fundus of the eye is thought to play an important role in generating our feelings of hunger. It is the main source of ghrelin, a hormone that is released and stimulates our appetite when the stomach is empty of food (as we eat, ghrelin levels then decrease). By burning part of the lining of the back of the eye, the hope is to destroy enough ghrelin-producing cells to consistently and safely reduce people’s hunger and promote weight loss.

This week, researchers leading the first human trial of this method announced their initial results at the academic conference. Digestive Diseases Week.

Ten patients suffering from obesity, all women, participated in the trial. On average, they lost 7.7% of their body weight and experienced a more than 40% reduction in their fasting ghrelin levels. The average level of hunger reported by participants also decreased by a third, while their stomach’s ability to eat and drink decreased by 42 percent.

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The results are based on a very small sample and have not yet been peer-reviewed. They must therefore be considered with extreme caution. Compared to other recently developed obesity treatments, particularly the emerging class of incretin drugs such as semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), the weight loss effects of endoscopic ablation of the mucosa are also modest. For comparison, these drugs have been shown to reduce people’s weight by 15% to more than 20% in clinical trials.

But the researchers behind the trial say the procedure may still have a place in the obesity treatment toolbox. Outside of bariatric surgery, they note, there are no treatments that work by affecting ghrelin levels. And if endoscopic ablation of the mucosa can lead to a safe and lasting drop in ghrelin levels, then it could be used as a unique, less intrusive procedure that would replace or complement other treatments, the researchers say.

“This relatively brief, outpatient, nonsurgical procedure can facilitate weight loss and significantly reduce hunger, and it could provide an additional option for patients who do not want or are not eligible for anti-obesity medications, such as Wegovy and Ozempic, or bariatric surgery,” researcher Christopher McGowan, MD, a gastroenterologist and medical director of True You Weight Loss, a clinic in North Carolina, in a. statement published by Digestive Disease Week.

McGowan and his team will look to expand their research with larger trials that track people’s weight and hunger over longer periods of time.

“This is just the beginning. The first question was whether we can reduce hunger and ghrelin endoscopically. The answer is: yes, we can,” he said.