Deep Brain Stimulation May Help Curb Obesity Epidemic

Researchers are now looking at a new method to treat the obesity epidemic: The brain.

The new study on obese mice found that deep brain stimulation (DBS) which involves implanting a device that sends electrical impulses to certain target regions of the brain to help reduce binge-eating and other obesity-related behaviors.

"Once replicated in human clinical trials, DBS could rapidly become a treatment for people with obesity due to the extensive groundwork already established in other disease areas," lead author Casey Halpern, a resident in the department of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, said in a statement. 

As binge eating and other obesity-related behaviors have been linked to deficits of a chemical called dopamine, researchers used DBS to activate the dopamine type-2 receptor in the nucleus accumbens of mice.

Mice were given an unlimited about of low-calorie food, but one hour each day, they were offered high fat food.

However undergoing the brain stimulation, they no longer wanted the same amount of high-fat foods.

Researchers are hoping to expand the same idea to humans. However, they believe that further research must be conducted.