Acupuncture helps reducing abdominal fat mass in men with obesity

Acupuncture both body electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture significantly reduced abdominal fat mass of obese men as reported in the journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders recently.

Abdominal obesity or beer belly also known clinically as central obesity is excessive abdominal fat around the stomach and abdomen. Abdominal obesity has a very negative impact on the health and is associated with risk of various conditions such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and sexual dysfunction. Conventional treatments include pharmacotherapy, surgery, dietary restriction, physical exercise. Acupuncture has gained increasing attention from public for obese treatment.

Recently researchers in Iran performed a clinical study to compare the therapeutic effect of both body electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture on the abdominal obesity. Eighty obese men with a BMI between 30-40 kg/m² were recruited for the study. They were divided into four groups (n=20 each group), body acupuncture, auricular acupuncture and their corresponding sham control groups. Both body and auricular acupuncture were performed twice a week for a total of 6 weeks. Body mass index, Trunk fat mass, Waist circumference and hip circumference were all measured before the treatment and one day after the last treatment.

Both body acupuncture and auricular acupuncture had markedly reduced all parameters mentioned above compared with the sham control groups. Interestingly, body acupuncture is more effective in reducing waist circumference and auricular acupuncture is more effective in hip circumference reduction.

Authors suggest that body acupuncture and auricular acupuncture are efficient, simple and good alternative treatment for obesity, with little adverse effect.

Reference:

Darbandi M, Auricular or body acupuncture: which one is more effective in reducing abdominal fat mass in Iranian men with obesity: a randomized clinical trial. J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2014; 13: 92.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4261582/

Auricular acupuncture is effective in shedding pounds

Auricular acupuncture can help shed pounds, indicates in the first prospective, randomized, double-blinded study published recently in journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine.

Auricular acupuncture is based on the understanding that entire body is represented on the outer portion of the ear. It was first developed in 1957 by French neurologist Paul Nogier who noticed that a patient’s back pain was cured after being sustained a burn on the ear. Although ear map was later developed according to the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Paul Nogier is still regarded as “Father of Auricular acupuncture” in China.

Austrian researchers investigated whether auricular acupuncture combined with moderate diet recommendations based on TCM can produce body weight reduction in female patients compared with placebo treatment. It is the first study using P-Stim® auricular electroacupuncture device in obese study. Three auricular acupoints (hunger 18, stomach 87 and colon 91) were selected. The treatment was performed once a week for 6 weeks. Body Mass Index (BMI) and body fat were measured at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. The results showed that auricular acupuncture produced significant reduction in body weight in treatment group (n=28, -3.73%) compared with placebo group (n=28, -0.70%). A significant reduction in BMI was observed in auricular acupuncture group (-3.62%) compared to placebo group (-0.82%). No adverse effect was reported. A follow-up 4 weeks after treatment showed a sustained reduction in all parameters.  The authors conclude that auricular acupuncture is a safe, effective therapy in obesity.

Reference:

Schukro RP et al., The effects of auricular electroacupuncture on obesity in female patients--a prospective randomized placebo-controlled pilot study. Complement Ther Med. 2014 Feb;22(1):21-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2013.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24559812