Botox Injection in the Stomach Does Not Lead to Weight Loss

A new study suggests that injecting toxins to the body might delay gastric becoming empty does not make anyone full at all times, change their eating behaviors, or make them lose weight.

To discover ways of losing weight, researchers tested several ways to slow down gastric emptying (transfer of food from the stomach to the small intestine) and raises satiation (the feeling of being full). There are several reports that gastric injections of Botulinum toxin can slow down gastric emptying, and promotes weight loss, but the results are not always the same.

Botulinum toxin or better known as botox is a protein and neurotoxin that comes from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which reduces muscle activity by means of preventing the release of acetylcholine from neurons.

Mark Topazian, who leads the study and his associates, evaluated the effects of introducing different doses of BTA into the stomachs of 60 individuals suffering from mild-to-moderate obesity.

All the participants for the study were participants who were injected with a dose of BTA (100, 300, or 500 U), or placebo, in the gastric antral muscularis propria, directed by endoscopic ultrasound. Gastric emptying of solids assessed by scintigraphy.  The researchers also calculated the body weights of all the participants every 2 weeks, along with satiation (based on maximum tolerated volume in a caloric liquid drink test), calorie intake (based on surveys), gastrointestinal symptoms, and psychological positions of eating.

After two,  weeks, the researchers found out that gastric emptying of solids has risen to 0.8, 14, 24, and 14 minutes among subjects given a placebo, 100, 300, or 500 U BTA, respectively.

After six weeks of injecting the toxins, body weights were cut down by 2.2, 0.2, 2.3, and 3.0 kg in these groups, correspondingly.

Despite the fact that stomach injection can slow down gastric emptying, it never promotes weight loss.

Researchers said that it will be better if an obese person is taught about the physiological differences in stomach volume as it will allow them to gain control of how much food they eat per day.