If you are done struggling with diets that don’t work and exercises that exhaust you, here’s finally some news you could use. A study lead by the Society of Interventional Radiology has found that freezing a nerve could be the answer to weight loss in obese people who have trouble dieting. In the pilot study, a team of doctors lead by Radiologist David Prologo revealed that freezing posterior vagal trunk that sends hunger signals to the brain can be an effective tool towards weight loss.

Obesity is one of the most pressing health problems in the world today and the inefficiency of the non-invasive methods of treating obesity has prompted researchers to look for effective techniques. The nerve is responsible for signalling hunger to the brain so cryoblasting it can stop it from doing so. The technique, the researchers say, may work for obese people who struggle with sticking to their diet due to constant hunger.

The men and women, who were chosen for the study, had a BMI between 30 and 37. After the subjects were sedated, the doctors inserted a gas-filled needle into their backs using CT guidance. The posterior vagal nerve was then cryoblasted or frozen with the gas and communication between the brain and the nerve was hindered. The entire process could be completed by the team of doctors in just 30 minutes.

Every subject who underwent the trail reported a reduction in their appetite to some degree. More than half of the people reported a considerable reduction in appetite, while others reported “much less” and “somewhat less” appetite. Incredibly, all of them reported weight loss due to their altered appetite. They lost an average of 3.6 percent of their body weight and 14 percent decrease in BMI.

From the looks of it, the technique is considered to be safe as researchers reported no adverse effects from the procedure. However, it has to be noted that the results of the process are not long lasting.  Once the nerve is frozen, it will continue to grow one millimetre per day. So the procedure may require timely follow-ups.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 26, 2018 06:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).