Scientists have developed a “world-first” weight loss device with locking bolts that restricts a person’s jaw from opening wide enough to intake solids.
A team of researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and the UK collaborated to develop the magnetic device that limits the wearer to a liquid diet, but “allows free speech and doesn’t restrict breathing.”
The device has an emergency key to unlock it — just in case users have a panic attack or choke. The magnetic device is fitted in the jaw by a dentist, can be released by the user in the case of an emergency and can be repeatedly fitted and removed.
“The main barrier for people for successful weight loss is compliance and this helps them establish new habits, allowing them to comply with a low-calorie diet for a period of time. It really kick-starts the process,” said Paul Brunton, the lead researcher and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Otago Health Sciences, in a statement.
Experts who study nutrition and eating disorders disagree. Deanne Jade, founder and principal of the U.K.’s National Centre for Eating Disorders, said the device is like “a return to the Dark Ages.”
“This is very, very dangerous,” she said. “Any extreme weight loss device — any of these strategies run the risk of harm unless you’re working with someone who is fully trained to deal with all these issues that can arise from it.”
Trial participants lost an average of 6.36 kilograms within two weeks and were motivated to continue with their weight loss journey, the University said. Participants reported occasional discomfort and feeling that life in general was less satisfying during the study.
The study repeatedly compared this “novel” device to the practice of jaw-wiring, which was popular in the 1980s but fell out of favor as patients developed psychiatric conditions and periodontal disease. The researchers said this new implement avoided several of jaw-wiring’s pitfalls.
The announcement of the jaw-locking device drew a massive backlash on social media as users termed it a “torture device” meant to force people to go on a liquid diet.
Chelsea Kronengold, associate director of communications for the National Eating Disorders Association, called the apparatus, which is cemented to wearers’ molars, “barbaric.”
“And this, kids, is why ethics needs to be taught in science. Good God, I thought medicine was past these kinds of torture devices,” replied one user.
The outrage on social media prompted the University to issue a clarification, saying the device is not intended as a quick or long-term weight-loss solution, but to assist people who need to undergo surgery and who cannot have the surgery until they have lost weight. It stated that users can have the magnets disengaged and the device removed after two or three weeks.
However, the University, in its earlier statement, had said that the device has been developed to “help fight the global obesity epidemic,” adding that the tool could be “particularly helpful” for those having to lose weight before they can undergo surgery.
