According to research, a chip implanted in the brain is the new hope to curb gluttony and make people lose weight

Small chips implanted in the brain could be the hope for people who suffer from binge eating and morbid obesity. The new technology is already being tested on humans and there are chances that the experience will be successful.

But how can an electronic chip help quench the urge to eat a box of chocolates?

O awesome.club tells how the study is being developed and how this new device can help people to control the obsession with food, acting in the area of ​​the brain responsible for the sensation of pleasure. In the end, one bonus which explains why that same feeling of satisfaction saved humanity from extinction.

You know that desire to “eat the world” that we sometimes have when we are nervous or anxious? It’s putting a packet of salty snacks or cornmeal cake in front of us so that we can devour everything very quickly, without realizing it.

In food compulsive people, this pattern is repeated more frequently and it doesn’t just happen at that party where the coxinha was really delicious and it was difficult to maintain control. Compulsives have this type of episode periodically, once or twice a week (sometimes even more) over months. Whoever is able to diagnose compulsion is always a specialist, such as a psychiatrist or an endocrinologist.

Treatment for compulsion may involve psychological follow-up and food re-education work, which establishes times for meals and adequate foods for each time of day. There is already a remedy indicated for cases of compulsion, but now an electronic chip can revolutionize the relationship we have with food.

The act of eating is directly related to pleasure. There is a region in our brain and in the brain of other animals, the nucleus accumbensresponsible for the feeling of satisfaction provided by food and other activities capable of making us happy.

A study at Stanford University, California (USA), analyzed the electrical activity of the nucleus accumbens in rats and in a human being with serious obsessive-compulsive disorder. They all looked forward to a powerful satisfaction—high-fat food, in the case of the mice, and financial reward, in the case of the human.

The scientists noticed that the moment of waiting for the reward (just before an attack of gluttony occurs) was marked by a stronger activity of delta waves in the nucleus accumbens🇧🇷 The chip implanted in the rats triggered electrical signals that stimulated that area of ​​the brain and appeased the animals’ voracity. Even highly addicted to fatty and caloric foods, the pets began to eat significantly smaller amounts after having their brains stimulated by the chip.

The chip used in the Californian research is called the RNS (responsive neurostimulation system) and is already adopted in the prevention of epilepsy events. The device recognizes the brain waves that precede a seizure and manages to stop it by sending small electrical shocks to the affected region. Based on this technology, scholars decided to investigate whether it was also capable of quelling food compulsion.

Convinced that the chip can influence the mechanism that leads to compulsive gluttony attacks, the scientists are now ready to monitor a group of morbidly obese people who have not been able to overcome the problem with other therapies, such as bariatric surgery. They will have the chip implanted for 18 months and will undergo several tests, including to find out if there are differences between the brain’s response to healthy foods and to fatty and sweet foods.

One of the dangers of the technique, according to the Stanford scholars, would be the suppression of feelings of pleasure, which could lead to depression and lack of interest in life. If successful, the experience brings great hope to those who spend their lives fighting obesity and binge eating.

Depiction of Neanderthal Man at the Museum of the Serbian Republic in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pleasure played a key role in the survival of our ancestors during the evolution of the species. The identification of this sensation by the brain made our ancestors repeat, until they were satiated, activities that kept them alive. For example: eating as many high-calorie foods as possible to withstand periods of scarcity, sleeping well, learning skills, getting social support and having sex, perpetuating the species.

turns out that the nucleus accumbens it is also stimulated by pleasurable activities that are not directly linked to survival and can become compulsive, such as gambling and drugs. Or another less harmful type of reward, such as listening to music, watching movies, and dancing. Today, food also falls under the category of compulsion, since modern human beings no longer need to hunt to survive — we have everything available in supermarkets.

Is that you? Do you think this science novelty will be able to help people who suffer from obesity? What is your opinion on this? Comment with us and don’t forget to share with all your friends. 🇧🇷