Eat anything you want, then remove some of it before it's digested.
By Colin Lecher Posted 01.09.2013 at 4:01 pm 18 Comments

AspireAssist
AspireAssist Aspire Bariatrics

This is the good news about a recently-patented gadget that sucks food out of the stomach: it could work as a last-ditch effort to get obese people to shed some weight. This is the bad news about said gadget: the method might be a little extreme.

AspireAssist, created by Segway inventor Dean Kamen and a team of bariatricians, works like this. A valve gets surgically implanted in the user's stomach, and the gadget sends a tube through it into their belly. About 20 minutes after eating, the gadget sucks out some food, and when the user squeezes a bag filled with water, the liquid gets sent back into the stomach instead. Rinse and repeat until up to 30 percent of your meal is gone. (There's no anesthesia involved, but some sedatives will be used along with it.) It's already available in some parts of Europe, but no FDA approval yet.

Here's the word from the gadget's site:


The aspiration process is performed about 20 minutes after the entire meal is consumed and takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete. The process is performed in the privacy of the restroom, and the food is drained directly into the toilet. Because aspiration only removes a third of the food, the body still receives the calories it needs to function. For optimal weight loss, patients should aspirate after each major meal (about 3 times per day) initially. Over time, as patients learn to eat more healthfully, they can reduce the frequency of aspirations.

In a trial, obese people who used it lost, on average, about half of their excess weight. That was about 45 pounds, according to the patent. But there were some hiccups, too, like when the machine had trouble breaking up certain foods. One patient "avoided eating cauliflower, broccoli, Chinese food, stir fry, snow peas, pretzels, chips, and steak."

Other than that, it sounds convenient (unless you live in China), albeit a little gross. Not surprisingly, though, convenience and effectiveness don't always inspire the greatest confidence when it comes to weight loss, and some experts are already a little wary of AspireAssist. One wondered to LiveScience if this was just an At-Home Bulimia Machine™. Nutrients from food are kinda important, after all, and removing one-third of them might not be such a good idea.

[AspireAssist via LiveScience]

18 Comments

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Robot
01/09/13 at 4:15 pm

Automated Bulimia via a prescription, how bizarre!

LoL, brings a new meaning on sharing a dinner.
When your finish, just swap devices with a friend.

Ew!

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Robot
01/09/13 at 4:26 pm

Mmmm, I can see a future alcoholic changing the polarity of this device and sneaking a drink without anyone knowing.

D'OH!

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Robot
01/09/13 at 4:31 pm

What if the 'turn-off' switch to this device breaks and the stays on constantly, causing the person to slowly implode?

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Joey_D
01/09/13 at 4:49 pm

"At-Home Bulimia Machine" is trademarked? Who knew there would be such competition in this market?

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Joey_D
01/09/13 at 5:02 pm

And I'm no genius inventor like Dean Kamen, but here's a wild idea for you...skip the direct vomit portal and eat 30% less.

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Robot
01/09/13 at 5:13 pm

Hmm, would I be seguing to say that this device sucks? No, I am still on topic, lol.

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01/09/13 at 10:01 pm

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Link to this comment
Wttp
01/09/13 at 11:37 pm

Wttp/jaec45
Do you realize how hard it is to have a Gastrostomy Tube? It leaks, it smells, it hurts, It gets infected. Eww!!

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Robot
01/10/13 at 10:12 pm

Wttp,
Very cool icon. I like it sir!

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loco
01/11/13 at 5:51 am

this is the embodiment of whats wrong with society today. Our planet cannot sustain such waste.

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Jazzbabe
01/12/13 at 6:44 pm

This is totally unnecessary!

There are surgical methods that are permanent and work much better with less hassle that this.

I got the Duodenal Switch bariatric surgery, and lost 240 pounds. My weight is stable at nearly four years out. HIgh weight: 405 Current weight: 170.

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quatra1001
01/13/13 at 2:05 am

So, maybe just barfing and reeating a small portion might be a lot less expensive than this "invention". You can store the rest than for later consumption.

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jeanjoan421
01/14/13 at 12:55 am

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jeanjoan421
01/14/13 at 12:56 am

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quasi44
01/14/13 at 2:25 am

We just get to lord it all over the dead Roman binge-n-purge crowd. They thought they were living the high life. Pedestrians.

So Dean Kamen invents a device to keep lazy rich people from having to walk, and as long as they keep buying his stuff, they don't even have to become a disgusting porker; well, by appearances to others like themselves. The ones who clean these nasty things will still think their rich patrons are plenty disgusting. As in, no limits to just how nasty they really are. Can everyone say, flesh eating bacteria?

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Wireless
01/15/13 at 2:18 am

Why not eat 30% less food and not have to go around with a valve in your stomach

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doublezero
01/19/13 at 10:52 pm

The blue telephone booth speaks the truth!

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Wireless
01/24/13 at 10:06 am

It's a TARDIS. Get it right!

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