San Francisco, CA (AHN) - Univ. of California researchers are studying whether the obesity epidemic can be brought under control with a 20-minute outpatient procedure. Medical experts believe cutting the vegus nerve could stop the unending hunger some weight patients report.

The vegus nerve seems directly tied to hunger. In the past, the nerve was severed in response to stomach ulcers. With gastric bypass becoming an increasingly common answer to obesity, researchers feel they can reduce hunger and obesity by cutting the vegus.

Unlike the gastric bypass, the laprascopic vegotomy takes just 20 minutes and is an outpatient procedure. Gastric bypasses, by comparison, require hospitalization and can be risky for some people.

Patients taking part in the study on average lost 20 percent of their weight.