Can feeding food to the blood directly prevent obesity, hypertension, and diabetes?

Question

Hi doctor,

My greatest desire was to become a doctor. I have a few thoughts to prevent lifestyle diseases. If we smile with an inner sad feeling, the brain will think that we are happy. It can be referred to as tricking the brain. Our taste buds are on the tongue, and when we eat, the brain knows the quantity of the food the body wants immediately. What if we stop peristaltic movements? Thus feeding food to the blood directly and bypassing the mouth causes the brain not to know how much it needs. It could prevent obesity, high and low hypertension, diabetes, etc. Will it affect the stomach? By the way, these meals will be complete with all the essential nutrients. I am looking forward to a reply. Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

It is great to know about your dream of becoming a doctor, and it is never too late. You can still give it a go as you are still pretty young by every means, and age can never be a hurdle in education.

Now coming to your query, the idea is good but not practical because of many reasons. You are talking about total parenteral nutrition, that is, TPN, giving all the nutrients through blood. This mode of nutrition is given in special cases only through a catheter, that is, a small tube-like structure implanted inside a blood vessel through which nutrients are infused directly into the blood.

But, this mode has many possible complications and hence is used only in those patients in whom oral feeding is not possible. It is not feasible for normal people because of many possible complications and unwanted effects as follows:

Feeling of extreme hunger: The brain gets signals from the taste buds, stomach, and other regions of the gastrointestinal tract, and not from the blood. So, if you give everything through blood, the brain will still send strong signals for eating food.
Disuse atrophy: When any organ is not in use for long, it undergoes atrophic changes. The same happens with the gastrointestinal tract if it is not fed regularly, which in turn can lead to many further diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
Infections of the site where the catheter is implanted for giving nutrition directly to the blood.
Clot formation in the blood vessels where the catheter is placed.

These are just a few of the many possible complications due to which it is not a good idea and practically not possible in normal individuals.

For more information consult an internal medicine physician online.