Scientists are trialing drug-free skinny pill that tricks the body into thinking it’s full – just like Ozempic

A drug-free weight loss pill could help millions of people beat the bulge, researchers believe.

Scientists have revealed promising early results for their experimental capsule that tricks the body into thinking it’s full, just like Ozempic and Wegovy.

People given the pill consumed an average of 13 percent of calories during one meal.

Unlike popular weight-loss shots, the new invention contains only nutrients, meaning it may be free of side effects.

Further testing is needed before the yet-to-be-named pill is available.

But scientists hope it could eventually play a role in tackling Britain’s obesity crisis.

Inventor Dr. Madusha Peiris, a neuroscientist at Queen Mary, University of London, claimed that the pill tricks the body into producing more of the glucagon-like peptide-1 hormone, which regulates appetite and the feeling of fullness.

Medicines such as Ozempic are synthetic and mimic the hormone.

She said The sun: ‘We have developed a way to hijack the system that all humans need to sense nutrients and keep us feeling full.

‘So far no one has had any side effects and we suspect that this is because they are nutrients that you get in your diet anyway, which is very different from a medicine.

‘No other company takes this nutrient-based approach.’

The results showed that the capsule, tested on 60 people, caused eight in ten to eat less food after taking the twice-daily pills.

The exact ingredients are not disclosed under patent terms.

But some are known to come from broccoli, coconut oil and perilla oil.

Developer Enterika, which is backed by Queen Mary University’s investment fund, has won a £50,000 government grant to scale up the tests to 150 patients this summer.

Dr. Peiris said: ‘Obesity is a global public health problem that requires safe, effective, accessible and complementary treatments to reduce the amount people eat.

‘We have shown in a clinical trial that our nutrient-based approach can reduce food intake. Now we need to show how different doses have different effects.

‘This allows us to produce a product that is natural, but clinically proven and validated to the same standard as a pharmaceutical medicine.’

It comes as pharmaceutical titan Novo Nordisk unveiled promising early results for its experimental drug amycretin earlier this month.

The weight-loss pill is similar to Wegovy and sister drug Ozempic, by targeting the same glucagon-like peptide-1 hormone.

But it showed patients were able to lose more than 13 per cent of their weight after just 12 weeks – suggesting it could be up to twice as effective as the jabs.

Analysts predict the obesity market could be worth £79 billion ($100 billion) by 2030.

However, health experts last month urged Britons not to rely on weight-loss jabs as a quick fix to resolve the crisis in the same Lords meeting, warning that they are ‘not the answer’ and ‘inevitably problems down the line’ will cause’.

Pharmaceutical titan Novo Nordisk revealed promising early results for its experimental drug amycretin earlier this month, showing patients were able to lose more than 13 percent of their weight after just 12 weeks. In contrast, the groundbreaking weight loss drug Wegovy has been proven to help people lose up to six percent in the same period. Trial participants lost more than 13 percent of their body weight in just three months, a rate that far exceeds the time it takes for Wegovy to work

Ozempic is currently only available on the NHS as a treatment for controlling blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

Because of its dramatic weight-loss effects, doctors and pharmacists have distributed it ‘off-label’ to people who want to lose weight.

However, health chiefs urged against this due to supply issues and warned it would put the lives of diabetics at risk.

Wegovy was approved last year specifically for weight loss.

A month’s supply is available privately from Boots and Superdrug for around £200. The eligibility criteria for people wanting to get the drug on the NHS is strict.

A lack of exercise, combined with an unhealthy diet, is blamed for Britain’s growing obesity epidemic.

The latest NHS data shows that 26 percent of adults in England are obese and a further 38 percent are overweight but not obese.