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Acupuncture for Weight Loss - How and Does Really Work ? - One strong reason someone tried alternative medicine acupuncture is to diet or lose weight. Sometimes people try various ways to reduce weight both medically and other alternative ways including acupuncture.
In a fact, data from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) indicates that approximately 78.6 million adults (34.9%) are clinically obese. Healthcare costs of obesity-related medical conditions such as: cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, and stroke (to name a few) – are thought to exceed $190 billion per year, accounting for over one-fifth of all annual medical expenses in the U.S.
What is acupuncture for weight loss?
Acupuncture actually is an alternative form of medicine and key part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Thin needles are inserted into the body’s acupuncture points. Commonly used for pain relief and a variety of other conditions.
There are many types of acupuncture, but several of the most commonly studied for weight loss include: auricular acupuncture, electroacupuncture, and laser acupuncture. In short, each of these acupuncture techniques differs slightly from the others, however, all are thought to stimulate precise acupuncture points to alter neurophysiology. Included below is a brief description of acupuncture each.
1. Auricular acupuncture
1st type is auricular acupuncture, this is a form of acupuncture that targets specific points on the external surface of the ear. Adherents to auricular acupuncture suggest that the ear is an “important microsystem” within the body, and by stimulating various sites on the ear, therapeutic effects can be attained. Some practitioners believe that this ear-centric form of acupuncture is highly effective for spurring weight loss.
2. Electroacupuncture
2nd type is Electroacupuncture, this is a form of acupuncture in which acupuncture needles penetrate the skin, and simultaneously, pulsating electrical stimulation is delivered through the needles. The delivery of electrical current is thought to eliminate the need for excessive hand movement associated with non-electrical acupuncture. Moreover, it is thought that the electrical currents help to ensure that clients get sufficient tactile stimulation.
3. Laser acupuncture
3rd type is Laser acupuncture, This is a form of acupuncture in which low-level lasers are used as an alternative to needles. The lasers used for laser acupuncture are referred to as “cold lasers” in that they do not heat up and/or burn the skin. Some individuals prefer laser stimulation at acupuncture sites over needles due to the lack of: transcutaneous penetration, sterility concerns (associated with needles), and side effects. Advocates of laser acupuncture claim that light from lasers penetrate the skin and are transmitted through “meridians” to alter signaling within the body and promote weight loss.
Regardless of the type of acupuncture used, it is thought to alter physiology to stimulate weight loss. Erroneously, uninformed champions may undermine the measurable physiological effect of acupuncture as being the mechanism by which it promotes weight loss. Instead, the belief may be that the mechanism by which acupuncture promotes weight loss is rooted in an ancient Eastern mystical secret.
In reality, if acupuncture is capable of reducing body weight, the effect occurs as a result of bodily stimulation via needles, electrical pulses, and/or low-level lasers. This bodily stimulation alters physiology, which in turn mediates weight loss. It should be noted that the comparative efficacies of needles, electrical pulses (plus needles), and/or low-level lasers in acupuncture for weight loss isn’t known; certain modalities of stimulation may be superior to others.
Additionally, it isn’t understood as to whether the specific location(s) of stimulation in acupuncture matter for weight loss. While some believe that stimulating specific acupuncture points produces a therapeutic effect unparalleled by stimulation of non-acupuncture points, others remain unconvinced. Whether a specific type of acupuncture is more effective than another and/or stimulating certain acupuncture points triggers greater weight loss remains unclear.
Acupuncture for Weight Loss (Review of Research)
Included below are brief synopses of studies investigating the efficacy of acupuncture for weight loss. When interpreting each study, it is important to critically examine factors in addition to the outcome including: study design, number of participants, and duration. Also consider methodological quality, potential researcher biases, and journal of publication (some are superior to others). You may notice a trend of research supporting the usage of acupuncture for weight loss in lower quality journals.
2015: The effects of auricular acupuncture on weight reduction and feeding-related cytokines: a pilot study.
A pilot study conducted by Ito et al. (2015) sought to determine the effect of auricular acupuncture on body weight, as well as upon biomarkers implicated in appetite and feeding. For the study, researchers recruited 10 healthy adults (9 females, 1 male) and assigned them at random to receive either: auricular acupuncture (5 participants) OR a placebo (5 participants) – weekly for 1 month. To gauge the effect of auricular acupuncture, researchers collected baseline (pre-trial) measures of: BMI, body weight, waist circumference, and various biomarkers [derived from blood and urine samples].
These measures were collected on a weekly basis for several additional weeks and thereafter, were compared to the baseline measures. Researchers analyzed changes in concentrations of biomarkers such as: adiponectin, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), C-peptide, ghrelin (active and desacyl), and leptin. Biomarker analyses revealed that participants receiving auricular acupuncture exhibited statistically significant changes in body weight after 1 week of treatment (p=0.02) compared to the placebo control.
The most significant weight loss occurred in Participant A of the acupuncture group, with a total of 5.73 lbs. Despite significant weight loss experienced by the acupuncture group, no substantial changes in biomarkers were observed. The lack of change in biomarker concentrations means that the mechanisms by which auricular acupuncture facilitates weight loss – remain unclear.
Researchers concluded that auricular acupuncture reduced body weight and may decrease appetite by attenuating production of the hormone ghrelin. Despite the reported findings, it is important to avoid assuming auricular acupuncture promotes weight loss – based solely upon results from this study. The study was extremely small-scale (with only 10 participants) and as a result, may be subject to inaccuracies.
A larger trial may reveal that auricular acupuncture has a significant effect upon biomarkers and/or that it has zero effect on body weight. A limitation with this trial seems to be the extremely short-term [timespan] over which it was conducted. It was stated that researchers collected body weight measures after 1 week of acupuncture, but it was also mentioned that measures would be collected once per week for 4 consecutive weeks.
This documentation was confusing in that, if researchers are reporting the effect of acupuncture (done once per week) to a placebo control, after one week – then essentially they are comparing the effect of a single acupuncture session to a single placebo session. Even if body weight measures were collected for several additional weeks and compared to baseline, this may still be too short of a duration (with too few acupuncture sessions) to observe significant weight loss and/or altered biomarker concentrations. A follow-up randomized controlled trial with a large sample size is certainly warranted.
Any follow-up trials should be conducted over longer term (e.g. months) for a more accurate understanding of how biomarkers change in response to auricular acupuncture over time, as well as to determine how any changed biomarkers affect weight. Researchers may want to consider conducting sex-specific research (on groups of men-only or women-only) due to the fact that baseline biomarker concentrations could differ by sex, thereby yielding inaccurate results. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26462269
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