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Burning the stomach lining reduces the ‘hunger hormone’ and cuts weight 

Patients in a small test study lost nearly 8 percent of their body weight in 6 months

A balloon-like illustration of a stomach, shown in pink on a royal blue background.

Burning a small patch of tissue lining the upper portion of the stomach could one day be a treatment for obesity, results from a small study suggest.

 Pepe Gallardo/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Meghan Rosen

An experimental weight loss procedure cranks up the heat to dial down hunger. 

Blasting a patch of patients’ stomach lining with thermal energy curbed hunger and cut pounds, researchers reported in a small pilot study to be presented at the annual Digestive Disease Week meeting on May 19 in Washington, D.