There have been many weapons used over the years in the 鈥渂attle of the bulge.鈥� There have been diets galore, medications to curb the appetite, and attempts to reduce hunger by filling the stomach with indigestible substances. Remember the cotton ball diet? It is best forgotten. It was a brief social media phenomenon in 2013 when model Bria Murphy, daughter of comedian Eddie Murphy, mentioned that she 鈥渉eard鈥� that other models were swallowing cotton balls soaked in juice and were losing weight. Not a smart thing to do. The cotton balls can cause intestinal blockage that can result in a trip to the emergency room.
More reasonable was 鈥淧lenity,鈥� an FDA approved superabsorbent hydrogel made of modified cellulose cross-linked with citric acid. The idea was to swallow capsules containing thousands of tiny hydrogel particles capable of absorbing and retaining large amounts of water. When taken orally with a meal, the capsules disintegrate and release the particles that then absorb water and fill the stomach promoting satiety and fullness. The hydrogel is then broken down in the large intestine and its components are excreted. While clinical trials did show some weight loss with the use of Plenity, and gastrointestinal side effects were mild, sales were low. Plenity was never approved in Canada and was discontinued in 2024 in the U.S.
Back in 2016, a paper in Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology suggested a similar approach to weight loss. This time the idea was not to fill the stomach with cotton balls or hydrogels, but with tiny particles of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), better known by its trade name, Teflon! This material they claimed was ideal because it was insoluble, inert, tasteless, available as a powder and had been shown to cause weight loss in rats when fed a diet composed of 25% PTFE. No toxic effects of any kind were noted in the rats after consuming the plastic-laden diet for 90 days.
Most of the paper was an extensive analysis of the safety of this polymer referencing studies that had shown it to be non-carcinogenic, non-genotoxic, non-allergenic and not having any reproductive harm. They also point out that PTFE implants and coated catheters have a long history of safe use. Studies using radioactively labeled particles showed no transference to the bloodstream and no buildup in the gastrointestinal tract. Given that the plastic particles would be excreted, the researchers even addressed the question of where they would end up. The claim is that in wastewater treatment the particles end up in sludge and subsequently in landfills where they stay put.
The paper鈥檚 authors applied for and were granted a patent 鈥渇or the use of polytetrafluorethylene as a nondigestible meal additive for increasing the feeling of satiety.鈥� The project, though, is dead in water because FDA would not approve the polymer as a food additive and efforts to organize a clinical trial did not come to fruition. Given the concern about plastics in the environment and the proliferation of microplastics, it is not surprising that there is reticence about approval of a plastic to fill stomachs. The authors idea of filling the stomach with Teflon seemed outrageous enough for them to be awarded the 2025 IgNobel Prize in chemistry. The IgNobels are a parody of the Nobel Prize and aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." While people may indeed laugh at eating plastic, this paper did make a significant contribution by thoroughly analyzing the toxicology of Teflon and allaying the fears of consumers who believe that health is endangered by cooking in PTFE-coated frying pans.
While people may not find the concept of eating plastic enticing, they may look more favorable on research out of China that investigated swallowing microbeads that trap fat in the gut and then are excreted during bowel movements. This time no plastics are involved. These beads are composed of polyphenols extracted from tea, vitamin E, and alginate, a naturally occurring complex sugar derived from brown seaweed. Conceptually, a substance that prevents the absorption of fats should result in weight loss. But the term 鈥渟hould鈥� is always a troublesome one. What is needed is evidence. Bring on the mice!
Mice like to eat fat, so it was no problem to get eight of them to consume a 60 percent fat diet for 30 days. They lost an impressive 30 % of their body weight while a control group of mice fed the same diet, but no microbeads lost no weight. Neither did another group fed a 10% fat diet lose any weight. None of the mice suffered any side effects, but mice can鈥檛 talk. Next step is a human clinical trial which is being organized. If the beads also absorb fat in the human gut, as in theory they should, they will become another weapon in the war against obesity. The researchers contemplate formulating a version of 鈥渂ubble tea鈥� in which the 鈥渂ubbles鈥� instead of being made of tapioca starch are made of polyphenols, vitamin E and alginate. We will have to wait for evidence to weigh in on whether these microbeads can play a role in weight control. The junk heap of science is full of failed weight control regimens.
