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Researchers have come up with a new obesity treatment technique which works by inflating gas balloons inside the stomach. Yes, you read it right.

According to a new research, swallowing gas-filled balloon pills, called Obalon, can help people lose weight by filling up the stomach and curbing appetite, reported U.S. News.

During the treatment, a patient is made to swallow a small capsule that contains a balloon, which is inflated by the doctor with nitrogen-based gas through a catheter attached to the capsule. Once inflated, the balloon is slightly larger than a standard 8-ounce (237 milliliters) cup, and helps people feel fuller sooner. The gas-filled balloons can be removed after a few weeks.

"The balloons work by taking up space in your stomach and making you feel full earlier in the meal," said study author Dr. Shelby Sullivan, assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, according to Time. "Patients definitely feel more full and eat less with it."

To test the effectiveness of the Obalon 6-Month Balloon System, the research team enrolled 387 participants across 15 study sites in the US. The participants were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group.

Individuals in the treatment group were asked to swallow one Obalon pill every week for three weeks, while, the control group participants were asked to swallow three sugar-filled capsules - once every three weeks.

At the end of six months, the research team found that the people who swallowed the real balloons lost 6.8 percent of their body weight, compared to a 3.6 percent loss for those who swallowed the sugar capsules.

It was found that 64.3 percent of the treatment group participants lost at least 5 percent of their total body weight, compared to only 32 per cent of the control group. Individuals in the Obalon balloon treatment group also experienced improvements in their systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, reported Tech Times.

However, it is to be noted that 90 percent of the patients experienced some sort of side effects, usually vomiting and nausea and sometimes abdominal cramps.

Dr. Sullivan believes that people will experience more weight loss than what has been found in their study when the same system gets applied in an actual setting.

Obalon is yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ongoing studies to assess benefits of the new obesity treatment have been funded by manufacturer, Obalon Therapeutics.

The study findings were presented at the Digestive Disease Week 2016.