Here’s more proof that humans might not be the most intelligent creatures on earth. Are you desperate to lose weight? Why bother doing the logical thing—eating right and exercising. Instead, take some "magic pills".

"Italian scientists are testing a new diet pill that turns into a clear, gelatinous blob the size of a tennis ball that may help shrink waistlines by giving dieters a sense of satiety.

The pill, currently undergoing clinical trials at Rome's Policlinico Gemelli hospital, would be downed with two glasses of water at the first sign of a stomach rumble.

"The effect is like eating a nice plate of pasta," said Luigi Ambrosio, lead researcher on the project at the National Research Council's Institute for Composite and Biomedical Materials in Naples. "If you sit down for a meal with a stomach that already feels full, you'll end up eating less."

The unnamed pill is made from a cellulose compound of hydrogel, a material that's powdery when dry but plumps up to a cousin of Jell-O when wet (and also belongs to a class of material used in diapers and feminine napkins). The gel can soak up to 1,000 times its weight. A gram in capsule form quickly balloons from the size of a spit wad to a ball that holds nearly a liter of liquid."

Now, if just hearing about it isn’t gross enough, check out the attached photo. Prepared to gag:

Wonder what happens if one of those suckers gets lodged in your throat?

Full article: Jelly in the Belly: A Diet Pill That Expands So You Don't

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It sounds a little scary....but, I can see where it would be a safer alternative than a surgical option. Obviously not everyone turns to surgery, but it is an appropriate option for some. Perhaps this pill will be an acceptable alternative to surgery.

I confess that the thought of that stuff that absorbs liquid in disposable diapers being in my stomach is a little creepy though.

wow, that sounds very scary!

I wouldn't like to pass it through the other end. Would be worse than a very hot vindaloo curry

Gross...LOL Big John

yea, i was wondering that myself...how you'd pass it, lol

LOL Big John!!

I too was wondering, how do you get it out? I don't think that could even fit in the small intestine, so that it could be passed.

I'd swallow one of those spit wads if it's composition isn't toxic. What a little mo jelly in my belly?? LMAO!!

Well, for it to even be considered, it's likely that the expanded form is unstable in our system. I'm sure it gets broken down before it comes to shooting a deuce the size of a baseball. At least I hope so. I like to think that even your average consumer isn't dumb enough to pay someone for the "amazing scientific advance" of swallowing, and then failing to shit, a brick.

According to the linked article, the same product may be used to treat edemas.

I don't think most people over-eat because their stomach grumbles. Most of the overweight people I know eat when they AREN'T hungry, thus the weight problem. Or once they start eating, they eat beyond the point of being full (guilty!). This pill wouldn't work for me at least...

after having experimented with pretty much every diet pill known to man - and every appetite suppresant from the mid 80s to 2000s - that my problem was never eating because i was hungry.. my problem was eating because i wanted to eat.. hunger wasn't a factor.... and for a lot of really obese people -I don't' imagine that's any different...

gotta wonder how some plumbing in older buildings would deal with ssuch a "deposit"

True...but the lap band works by making the available stomach space smaller...the same premise as this pill if I'm understanding it correctly. So, if the lap band would be an effective surgical alternative for you, this pill would be an effective non surgical alternative.

well heres the big problem.....the lapband surgery, gastric bypass...this new jelly pill....if a person WANTS to eat and/or CHOOSES to overeat, he/she can stretch their stomaches out again. How many people do you know of that have had the surgery and it "just didn't work" its not that it didnt' work, its that they didn't stick to the plan and restretched their stomaches.

I can't argue with anything you say....

But at the same time, I can't argue that lapband/bypass/etc are not effective (short term for some, long term for others) for some people.

what do you mean?? yea you can argue w/ me all you want I have 2 kids and a hubby i'm used to people disagreeing w/ me, lol

I'm not saying that this option or any WL surgery WILL fail, I'm just saying the problem isnt' that people eat when hungry, but just b/c they are bored or soemthing and the WL surgeries can't help w/ that.