Bethesda (ddp). A gastric pacemaker could help in losing weight in the future. The device stimulates the gastric mucosa with electrical impulses, which suppresses the hunger and the food to stay longer in the stomach. Scientists to Jiande Chen of the University of Texas in a study of twelve volunteers have now studied the effect of this procedure. Side effects such as nausea or discomfort have not occurred, write the scientists in the journal “American Journal of Gastroenterology» (April issue, p. 798). Scientists have long suspected that obesity could be combated through stimulation of the stomach. A number of studies confirmed the efficacy and safety of this new method, on which, however, not all patients respond. Chen and his colleagues have now a possibility found in the stomach of the patient using stimulating electrodes without surgery: the electrodes in the gastric mucosa are placed and not as previously surgically implanted in the outer membranes of stomach using an endoscope. Use this simpler method doctors can find out whether a patient to treatment addresses and thus is suitable for long-term treatment, the researchers explain. The researchers in twelve healthy subjects tested their new method. Three consecutive days they seized food intake and gastric function of volunteers and observed the changes in arriving and switched off gastric electrical stimulation. Compared with a control group in which the stimulation was only feigned food intake and the maximum water consumption declined in the group with real stimulus significantly. Gastric emptying was also delayed in the first 45 minutes after eating. These results indicated that the new method could help in losing weight, the researchers say. But further studies are needed to prove this idea.