Acupuncture for Obesity

As obesity rates climb, more and more routes for fighting this serious health condition are being explored, including acupuncture. As of 2010 in the United States, 34 percent of the adult population is overweight and 27 percent obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obese people are at risk for a host of conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and depression. For some obese people, dieting and exercise alone don't do the trick. That's why investigation of complementary and alternative approaches like acupuncture is gaining momentum. Acupuncture may help people suppress food cravings and boost mood.

History

Just how useful acupuncture is for treating obesity has not been evaluated fully, according to a review by J. M. Lacey in the International Journal of Obesity. Most of the studies on obesity and acupuncture are uncontrolled trials that have inconsistent methodologies or lack control groups for comparison, according to Lacey.

Potential

Some studies do sound promising. For example, a study published in the February 2006 edition of the The International Journal of Neuroscience concludes that acupuncture can suppress appetite. Acupuncture affects appetite by increasing tone in the stomach's smooth muscles, according to lead author M. T. Cabyoglu. The muscle tone improves after acupuncture triggers the hypothalamus' satiety center and stimulates the vagal nerve to raise serotonin levels. Serotonin improves digestion and controls stress and depression. Improving mood may improve control over food intake. The study was conducted at Selçuk University in Turkey.
Another study, published in the journal Medical Acupuncture, concludes acupuncture treatments are effective when combined with exercise and a reduced-calorie diet. Study author Abraham C. Kuruvilla recommends further investigation.

Theories/Speculation

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a life force called "Qi" circulates longitudinally within energy pathways, called meridians, throughout the body. Acupuncture points are connected to the energy meridians. When a person is sick, Qi is regarded as out of balance. Proper stimulation of acupuncture points fixes the imbalance. With TCM, excess appetite and obesity are conceptualized as deficient Qi in the stomach or spleen, heat in the stomach and intestine or a primary Qi deficiency. In terms of Western medicine, the 14 major meridians in TCM correspond somewhat with the definition of organs. Westerners believe acupuncture works by stimulating peripheral nerves at acupoints, thus altering central nervous system neurotransmitter levels, according to Lacey.

Function

Ear acupuncture is most often used to treat obesity, according to Lacey. The vagus nerve in the ear shares a common path to the brain with the nerves in the digestive tract. In theory, ear acupuncture causes interference with appetite signals from a person's gastrointestinal tract. Studies on rats suggest that ear acupuncture does, indeed, reduce weight gain by affecting the body's satiety center. Anectdotal evidence suggests that appetite is reduced and cravings are eased when people wear ear acupuncture devices.

Considerations

Conducting further research on acupuncture as an obesity treatment poses several challenges. These include safety concerns, the need for appropriate controls like finding an appropriate placebo, and acupuncture techniques that are not standardized. For example, there are English, French, Japanese and Korean varieties of acupuncture along with traditional Chinese methods. These all have different theories on the depth and time frame for needle penetration, point selection and treatment focus, according to Lacey.