Wearable Claims To Help People Lose Body Fat Without Dieting

There's a company that claims its new wearable can help you lose weight while sitting on your butt watching TV. The neurotechnology startup Neurovalens just completed an Indiegogo campaign for a weight loss headset called MODIUS, which stimulates the brain to boost metabolism. Neurovalens CEO Jason McKeon told International Business Times crowdfunding created orders for 2,000 headsets. The wearable will eventually be available to wider audiences for a retail price of $499.

“We can say for sure this absolutely influences metabolism,” McKeon said, qualifying that promise with a reminder that brain chemistry and hormone levels are unique for each person and circumstance. “Everyone is going to have a different outcome with it.”

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McKeon used the headgear himself to help take his diet and exercise routine to the next level. He wore the device for around 45 minutes a day, four days a week, for almost a year. During that time he went from having 21 percent body fat to just 12 percent. He now wears the headset once or twice a week just to keep his metabolism up.

This headset was never meant to replace exercise and healthy food entirely. McKeon said he hopes users will see it as a tool to help them achieve a healthier lifestyle, eventually quitting the wearable altogether. Henry Mahncke, neuroscientists and CEO of Posit Science, told IBT he is intrigued by this new technology.

“It looks like a very cool and interesting device from a very credible science team...they clearly come from a solid medical and academic background,” Mahncke said. “Certainly the basic science of the concept, that stimulating the inner nerve, essentially, tricks your body into thinking that it is exercising more than it is, and it that sense kicks up your metabolism.”.

However, Mahncke is concerned about the limited research behind this wearable. The MODIUS team ran several clinical trials with over a dozen people using the wearable for 16 weeks. This study, conducted under the tutelage of esteemed neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran at the University of California San Diego, proved people shed fat without changing their diet or exercise routines. Subjects lost anywhere between 2 to 16 percent of their central body fat. But there haven’t been any peer reviewed, published articles about long-term trials so far. There are still many variables yet to be explored.

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There are far more comprehensive studies on the connection between brain stimulation, weight and appetite in animals. Yet animal studies don’t always translate well to human subjects.“Any time you are doing long-term nervous system activation, it’s appropriate to do some safety studies,” Mahncke said. “Do we know what happens to the brain after you stimulate the vestibular nerve for thirty or forty minutes a day for a couple months? No, we don’t.”

Mahncke worried there could be unknown side effects like an increased tendency to fall or get into car accidents, because this part of the brain also helps with balance and coordination. McKeon himself said the headset creates a swaying sensation, like walking on a boat or drinking wine, and recommends people only wear the headset while seated. He hasn’t noticed any changes in his own motor functions when he’s not using the wearable.

Even with all the unanswered questions, this wearable opens a world of possibilities, especially for people with thyroid problems and diabetes. That’s where McKeon hopes to take this research next. In the meantime, MODIUS users can enjoy burning more fat just by wearing a headband.