Zap your brain… and lose half a stone in just six weeks – according to new research which found binge eaters had fewer episodes while undergoing electrical brain stimulation

Binge eating can be successfully treated with electrical brain stimulation at home, a study suggests.

The study found that people who received the treatment – in addition to an exercise program to reduce attention to food – reduced binge eating from an average of 20 times a month to six times a month within a six-week period.

People in this group also reported losing up to 4 kg (8.8 lbs) from the start of the study to the six-week follow-up.

The gentle brain stimulation technique – called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) – targets behavioral patterns that may contribute to loss of control over food, allowing people to change deeply ingrained thinking and behavior around food.

Specialist equipment is used, including a head cap to which electrodes are attached.

The brain stimulation was carried out alongside another method called Attention Bias Modification Training (ABMT), which involved computer sessions of up to 15 minutes. It trained participants to look toward low-calorie food cues and away from high-calorie food cues.

Dr. Michaela Flynn, research fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, and first author of the study, said: ‘Current treatments for binge eating are only effective for some people and many require further treatment. or other support to get better.

‘Our study is the first to look at a new home treatment option that offers a different approach to treating binge eating.’

Dr. Flynn added: ‘The participants noted that their moods felt lighter, which may be an important part of why they reported changes in eating behavior and weight loss that lasted for some time after treatment ended.

The study found that people who received the treatment – ​​in addition to an exercise program to reduce focus on food – reduced binge eating from an average of 20 times a month to six times a month within a six-week period.

‘Our findings are encouraging and we want to investigate this on a larger scale with more participants.’

Binge eating disorder (BED) is a serious mental health condition that can affect anyone of any age, gender, ethnicity or background.

People with the disorder have recurring episodes in which they lose control of their food intake and consume a lot of food in a short period of time until they become uncomfortably full.

The condition is typically accompanied by anxiety and low mood and is linked to obesity and metabolic complications.