Looks like a jellyfish

New Diet Pill: The Expanding Blob

by J. Foster

Wired Magazine reports on a new diet pill - a pill that expands into a gelatinous blob the "size of a tennis ball" after swallowing.

Sound appetizing?

Image: from Prof. Luigi Ambrosio via Wired

The pill is currently undergoing clinical trials in Italy.

The unnamed pill is made from a cellulose compound of hydrogel, a material that's powdery when dry but plumps up to a cousin of Jell-O when wet. The gel can soak up to 1,000 times its weight.

The plan is to create an effect that is similar to a gastric bypass - but without the surgery.

However - as one commenter points out: "aside from being a growth medium for plants, this class of material is also used in diapers and feminine napkins".

I was reading my Self magazine the other day, I think it was an old issue, an article on this was in it. I just thought it was a cool idea but kind of funny how it was described here. Imagine a pill that becomes a gelatinous blob in your stomach that you eventually digest made out of baby diaper material. Bon Apetit!