Electric shock to the brain may help curb binge eating: study

Two women each lost over 11 pounds while taking part in a study that sent electric shocks to the part of the brain linked to cravings.

Robyn Baldwin, 58, and Lena Tolly, 48, who both have obesity and binge eating disorders, tried extreme dieting and even bariatric surgery, but couldn’t keep the weight off.

But they both reportedly found success during a six-month, two-person trial in which a small implant zapped the hypothalamus to help scramble thoughts of cravings, according to the New York Times.

“I could go into the pharmacy and not even think about ice cream,” Baldwin, a self-described “chunko child,” said of breaking her bad habit of swinging past Ben & Jerry’s on the way to the drugstore.

“It’s not like I don’t think about food at all,” she added. “But I’m no longer a craving person.”

The implant reportedly even changed the women’s food preferences. Before the study, Baldwin craved sweet foods but now prefers savory ones. Tolly said she would sometimes eat peanut butter from the jar, but now she doesn’t crave it.

“It’s not self control,” Tolly said. “I make better choices.” However, she still avoids food that does not appeal to her: “I am not signing up for kale.”

The pilot study — which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine in August — was mainly conducted to make sure the implant is safe. But its promising effects were “really impressive and exciting,” said Dr. Casey Halpern, the study’s senior author and an associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in a news release.

Neither of the two patients reported any side effects from the implant, either. One of them no longer fits the criteria of having a binge-eating disorder.

However, it’s too early for doctors to link the implant with weight loss, as there could be a placebo effect from the surgery or the effect could wear off over time.

Tolly and Baldwin will keep taking part in the study for six more months while researchers look for four more people to try it out.