An engineer in the US has developed a vibrating and ingestible pill that could reduce food intake by 40% to treat obesity, Gulf News reported.

“For somebody who wants to lose weight or control their appetite, it could be taken before each meal,” said Indian national Shriya Srinivasan, a former student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard University.

The pill intake will create a sense of fullness while triggering the brain into thinking it is time to stop eating.

According to Srinivasan, the capsule vibrates within the stomach after ingestion as it would activate the same stretch receptors that sense when the stomach is inflated (full), creating an illusory sense of fullness.

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The researchers tested the capsule on animals where they were given the pill 20 minutes before eating. The results showed that the treatment stimulated the release of hormones that signal sufficiency and also reduced the animals’ food intake by about 40%.

Srinivasan believed that the treatment could be used as an option to minimise the side effects after using other pharmacological treatments to treat obesity.

Srinivasan, in the paper, said that when the stomach becomes inflated after food intake, specialised cells sense that stretching and send signals to the brain after which the brain stimulates the production of insulin.

The capsule is the size of a multivitamin that includes a vibrating element. It is powered by a small silver oxide battery.

According to Srinivasan, the bill reaches the stomach where it is covered by a gelatinous membrane that is dissolved by acidic gastric fluids, completing the electronic circuit that activates the vibrating motor.

The study of the pill in animals showed that the pill activates mechanoreceptors after the capsule begins vibrating, which send signals to the brain through stimulation of the vagus nerve.