Video: Technology to tackle obesity

New technologies that help the obese lose weight without surgery could cut risk and costs (Hans Neleman/Stone/Getty)

GASTRIC surgery is a last resort for people who are dangerously obese. But there may soon be a gentler option in the shape of a removable device inserted into the gut though the mouth.

The EndoBarrier, developed by GI Dynamics of Lexington, Massachusetts, is an impermeable sleeve that lines the first 60 centimetres of the small intestine. In animal experiments and preliminary human trials, it reduces weight and rapidly brings type II diabetes under control.

Given the rising …