It has been claimed that if you inject botulinum toxin A (BTA), or Botox, into your stomach, it will delay your stomach from emptying itself, which will make you feel fuller for longer and therefore lead you to eat less, helping you to lose weight. Therefore, Mark Topazian, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, and colleagues undertook a study to see whether this is true.
In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, the team of researchers assigned 60 obese patients to one of two groups. One group received 24 weeks worth of BTA injections, whilst another was given a placebo of sugar coated pills by means of comparison. The results, which were published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, were that though the injection slowed movement of food through the stomach, it did not cause weight loss.
Topazian concluded, ‘On the basis of our findings, I would not recommend gastric Botox injections to people who want to lose weight.’ As there were some wellness risks with this treatment and ‘no benefit in terms of body weight loss’, Topazian added in his Mayo statement that ‘Unless future studies show different results, I’d advise patients to seek other means of achieving weight loss.’