There are many uses for Botox, but the injectable medicine is most well-known for its age-defying properties. Regular injections of Botox can help individuals reduce the wrinkles that appear around the eyes, mouth and forehead. However, doctors say that injecting the Botulinum toxin into the stomach area does not help with weight loss, as some may have been led to believe, reports LiveScience.

An earlier study had suggested that Botox could prove to be a successful way for individuals struggling with obesity to lose weight, as the drug was thought to help create feelings of "fullness," thus prompting patients to consume less food.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, set out to validate this study. They gathered 60 obese individuals in a trial, giving some of them gastric Botox injections, and the rest a placebo. Six months later, those who had received the "real deal" showed no weight loss advantage over those who had taken the placebo.

"On the basis of our findings, I would not recommend gastric Botox injections to people who want to lose weight," researcher Mark Topazian, a professor at the Mayo Clinic, said in a statement, according to the news source. "There are some risks with this treatment and we found that there was no benefit in terms of body weight loss. Unless further studies show different results, I'd advise patients to seek other means of achieving weight loss."

Fortunately, there are other cosmetic and aesthetic options for individuals who find that, even with diet and exercise, they are unable to shed fat from certain parts of their body. For example, liposuction surgery can help remove stubborn pockets of fat in the stomach, waist, buttocks, thighs or other problem areas, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.