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Would you choose the drip-fed diet to lose weight?
An article by Katie
Posted October 25, 2011 An article by in the Telegragh yesterday talks about how far would you go to lose weight? A controversial new procedure is being offered privately to obese and moderately overweight patients in the UK
The Government may be urging us to lose weight – but what lengths would you go to in order to get slim? How about a 10-day regime of being drip-fed a daily 130 calories of liquid food via a nasogastric tube?
Dr Ray Shidrawi, a leading gastroenterologist at Homerton University Hospital, London has brought a controversial treatment developed more than 30 years ago in Italy to the UK. Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition (KEN) sends the body into a controlled “starvation mode”, forcing it to use its own fat for energy. Dr Shidrawi says that weight loss with KEN is between 4 per cent and 9 per cent of body weight per 10-day cycle, without, he claims, any side effects or feelings of hunger.
“KEN is not a cure for obesity – that requires a lifestyle change – but it is a safe, non-invasive way of drastically reducing a patient’s weight,” says Dr Shidrawi.
Every new patient visiting his Harley Street clinic has body fat, water, mineral and muscle content assessed using a bioimpedance machine (which measures electrical resistance), before Dr Shidrawi works out his or her target weight.
The patient is given a tub of KEN powdered food (a patented formula) to mix with one litre of water twice a day. This is put into a bag connected to a small portable pump, which drip-feeds the mixture directly into the stomach via the tube.
On a ketogenic diet, the body is starved of carbohydrates and forced to use fat for energy(ketones are a by-product of this process). But while some of these diets allow both fat and protein, KEN food delivers just 130 calories of pure protein daily, plus some nutrients, with patients given extra supplements, laxatives and antacids.
Patients can do as many 10-day cycles as it takes to achieve their target weight, with 10-day intervals between cycles. KEN can be used by those who need to lose moderate amounts of weight, as well as for serious obesity.
