It may seem crazy, but swallowing a pill containing a deflated balloon could help you lose weight.
Weight loss hopefuls who have tried the radical procedure, now available on the NHS as part of a limited rollout, have lost more than five stone.
Inside the 3 cm long and 2 cm wide capsule is a collapsed balloon. Attached to that is a thin tube.
Once doctors have verified by x-ray that it is placed in the correct place in the stomach, they introduce 550 ml of saline solution through the tube to fill the balloon.
When the balloon is full, the connection valve is automatically sealed and the tube is removed.
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Inside the 3 cm long and 2 cm wide capsule is a collapsed balloon. Attached to it is a thin tube, through which doctors introduce 550 ml of saline solution to fill the balloon. An x-ray is done to confirm that it is seated correctly in the stomach. When the balloon is full, the connection valve automatically seals. A second x-ray confirms that it is still positioned correctly before the tube is removed.
The idea is that the balloon makes it impossible to eat much, since the stomach feels permanently full.
It remains in place for four months. After that, the small round, self-sealing valve dissolves and the balloon empties.
The body naturally passes both through the gastrointestinal tract.
Emanuela Torrielli, from Surbiton, south-west London, underwent a 15-minute treatment privately in the city earlier this month in a bid to lose weight and keep it off.
With a BMI of 30 (13.3 pounds and 5 feet 5 inches tall), a 40-year-old person is considered obese.
The swallowable balloon is currently available privately to those with a BMI over 27, as long as they are willing to pay around £4,000.
She told the Mail: “When I try a diet it works for a while – I lost 10kg.” [1st 8 b] once. But then I gain weight again and that affects you.
“It makes you feel like a failure.”
Minutes after swallowing the capsule, Emanuela said she didn’t feel any different, although she acknowledged that she “didn’t feel good” when the tube passed down her throat.
Despite skipping lunch, she revealed she felt like she had “eaten one of my big lasagnas.” After half an hour he returned home without any signs of nausea.
Meanwhile, Charley Payne had the balloon fitted in January 2023 after trying “every diet under the sun.”
At the time, the Milton Keynes girl, now 26, weighed 13.12lbs (88kg), which at 5ft 1in gave her a BMI of 36 and classified her as obese.
In the year since then, she has lost more than two kilos, weighing in at 11th place (70kg), putting her overweight.
Charley admitted to the Mail that she felt “a little dizzy” and “nauseous” when she traveled home an hour after undergoing the treatment.
She said: “Doing it towards the end of the day was a good decision as I went to bed and slept the worst.”
‘After that, every day I felt a little better. I spent the first two days only drinking liquids, then two days on softer foods like soup or porridge, and then on the fifth day I was back on solid foods.
‘It seemed crazy to me how quickly I felt full when I ate. I didn’t change my diet because I wasn’t eating unhealthy; I just ate less, much less.’
He added: “I had to switch from a normal-sized plate to a smaller one to remind myself not to put too much food on it.”
Allurion, the company behind the pill, said it has been in talks with NHS trusts about rolling out the treatment after it received the seal of approval from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in 2020.
Emanuela Torrielli (pictured), from Surbiton, south-west London, underwent a 15-minute treatment privately in the city earlier this month in a bid to lose weight and keep it off. With a BMI of 30, a 40-year-old person is considered obese. The swallowable balloon is currently available privately to those with a BMI greater than 27.
Meanwhile, Charley Payne had the balloon fitted in January 2023 after trying “every diet under the sun.” At the time, the now 26-year-old from Milton Keynes weighed 13.12 (88kg), which at 5’1 gave her a BMI of 36 (pictured) and classified her as obese.
In one year she has lost more than two kilos, weighing in 11th place (70 kg), which places her overweight. She admitted to feeling “a little dizzy” and “nauseous” as she drove home an hour after undergoing the treatment.
Now the first two NHS patients have been treated at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset.
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is treating it as a research project as a pre-intervention to prepare people for gastric bypass surgery.
There are currently no plans for a wider NHS rollout, officials said today.
According to NICE guidelines, the swallowable gastric balloon capsule is intended only for those who “need short-term weight loss for medical reasons.”
To date, the evidence on its effectiveness remains “inadequate in quantity and quality.”
Trials have shown that the treatment is particularly effective in patients with a higher body mass index (BMI).
Patients with a starting BMI of 35-40 lose an average of 15 percent of their body weight after four months, while those with a starting BMI greater than 40 can lose an average of up to 20 percent of their body weight after six months.
Patients also maintained 95 percent of their weight for a year after treatment.
Allurion offers a nutrition and lifestyle program to help keep people on track.
To date, around 130,000 people worldwide have been treated with this procedure privately.
However, it is not without side effects. Users often complain of nausea and vomiting, but both are usually temporary.
Studies also show that heartburn affects about one in ten people with a balloon, as it causes the stomach to empty more slowly, allowing stomach acid to build up.
ButtThe weight loss balloon is considered a cheaper alternative to surgery. Until now, it has only been available privately in the UK from £3,000.
Other weight loss surgeries, such as gastric bands, can cost between £5,000 and £10,000.