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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Mar 13;15(1):8753.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92744-9.

Non-invasive vestibular nerve stimulation (VeNS) reduces visceral adipose tissue: results of a randomised controlled trial

Erik Viirre  1 , Julie Sittlington  2 , David Wing  3 , Ruth Price  2 , Caomhan Logue  2 , Daniel Moreno  3 , Jeff Ledford-Mills  4 , Cynthia Knott  4 , Carel W le Roux  5 , David Grieve  6 , Sinead Watson  7 , Jason McKeown  6   7   8   9 , Paul D McGeoch  7   9
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Non-invasive vestibular nerve stimulation (VeNS) reduces visceral adipose tissue: results of a randomised controlled trial

Erik Viirre et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Across multiple species, chronic vestibular stimulation activates hypothalamic regions involved in energy homeostasis and reduces body fat. This first-in-human randomised controlled trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of electrical vestibular nerve stimulation (VeNS) as a means of reducing excess body weight and fat. Overweight and obese adults were randomised 1:1 to receive 60 min of daily VeNS (n = 117) or sham stimulation (n = 124) for 6 months, together with a hypocaloric diet. The primary endpoints were weight loss based. Secondary endpoints included reduction in visceral adipose tissue (VAT). It is VAT, more than subcutaneous fat depots, which is particularly associated with the risks associated with obesity. The weight loss based primary endpoints were not met. However, mean change in VAT was significantly greater in the active (- 12.6%) versus the sham (- 4.7%) group (p = 0.03). This suggests that regular VeNS may cause a clinically meaningful reduction in VAT.

Keywords: Galvanic stimulation; Neuromodulation; Obesity; Vestibular; Vestibular nerve stimulation; Visceral adipose tissue.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: PDM is named as an inventor on various patents issued to the University of California that pertain to using vestibular stimulation to modify body mass composition. PDM and JM are co-founders of Neurovalens Ltd which is a company commercially developing vestibular stimulation as a treatment modality for a range of conditions including obesity. JM is CEO of Neurovalens and PDM is a director. SW is an employee of Neurovalens. No one in the Neurovalens team had any direct interaction with the clinical trial participants, nor were they involved in any aspects of trial execution, such as sample collection or measuring clinical outcomes. No other authors have competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Vestibuloautonomic pathways in the brain stem and hypothalamus. Diagram of the non-invasive electrical vestibular nerve stimulation applied to the mastoid and subsequent projections through the medial vestibular nucleus to the vestibulohypothalamic and vestibuloautonomic pathways.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Modius Lean headset. Note: the external appearance of the sham device was identical.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Example of a whole body DXA scan images at baseline (left) and 6 months (right). This male subject had an active device and reduced his total body fat by 23% and VAT by 44%. The Hologic Discovery DXA software automatically segmented body composition. The green boxes are placed for illustrative purposes and are the same area. They highlight the “android” box that the computer generates based on the height of the participant’s torso.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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