A TUBE that is slipped inside the nostrils to dull the sense of smell could offer a simple and drug-free way to lose weight.
People who used the device daily for three months while on a strict diet shed twice as much weight as a second group, who dieted alone. They also ate fewer sweets, and drank fewer soft drinks and less alcohol, according to a new study in the journal Obesity Facts.
It is thought that by directing air that’s inhaled through the nostrils away from the smell centre of the nose, the 2.5cm-long hollow tube prevents smells from stimulating appetite.
Up to one in four adults in the UK is classed as obese, raising their risk of multiple health conditions including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Studies also show that obesity can shorten life expectancy by almost six years.
Weight-loss diets can be difficult to follow long term and up to 95??per cent of those who do lose weight will eventually put it all back on.
There is an anti-obesity drug (called orlistat) available on prescription, but potential side-effects include loose stools, headaches and gallstones. Obesity surgery, meanwhile, although very effective, is typically only offered on the NHS to those who are severely obese.
The NozNoz device, from Israel-based start-up Beck Medical, could provide a simple alternative. It capitalises on the close links between smell and appetite.
Food odours have been shown to increase appetite, trigger salivation and release hormones involved in hunger and satiety (or sense of fullness). Furthermore, our sense of smell becomes keener when we are hungry. This effect is particularly strong in people who are overweight or obese, or who have food cravings, but it is not known why.
The device, which is made from the soft silicone used in some contact lenses, diverts inhaled air? away from the olfactory epithelium, a sheet of tissue at the top of the nasal cavity that contains nerve cells that communicate smells to the brain.
One tube is inserted into each nostril, where it will redirect air to the posterior nasopharynx, which links the nose with the throat, bypassing the smell-detecting nerve cells and so curbing the sense of smell.
In the trial, involving 65 people with obesity, one group used the device for five to 12 hours a day for three months, while a second ‘placebo’ group simply placed two drops of saline solution in their noses each day. All the volunteers followed the same 500-calorie diet.
Tests revealed sense of smell dropped by almost a third in the device-wearers but didn’t change in the placebo group. And those aged 50 and under who were trialling the device lost 26??per cent of their excess weight (22?lb, or 10.1?kg) on average — twice as much as those dieting alone.
The natural weakening of the sense of smell that occurs with age may have prevented the device from boosting weight loss in the over-50s, say the researchers from Tel Aviv University and Hasharon Hospital, both in Israel.
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