Ear acupuncture with reduced food intake linked to weight loss for adults
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Men from Japan who underwent auricular acupuncture stimulation followed by a diet lost 8.61 kg of body weight at 3 months.
- Women who received acupuncture lost a similar amount of weight as men.
An ear acupuncture intervention using metal beads may help induce weight loss for adults, according to findings from two studies presented at the European Congress on Obesity.
In data from 81 Japanese men who underwent an auricular acupuncture stimulation, researchers observed decreases in body weight, BMI, waist circumference and body fat. Similar reductions were observed in a study of 81 Japanese women, though women had a greater decrease in body fat and men had a higher increase in muscle mass.
“By stimulating the auricular acupoints using beads instead of traditional acupuncture needles, we have found that it is possible to support weight-loss treatments,” Takahiro Fujimoto, MD, PhD, of Clinic F in Tokyo, told Healio. “We propose this as a convenient means of supporting weight-loss treatments beyond dietary and exercise therapies.”
Fujimoto presented data from two studies of an auricular acupuncture stimulation-based weight-loss program. In the first study, researchers enrolled 81 men to receive acupuncture stimulation using metal beads on six points of the ear. Participants received dietary guidance to reduce food intake in half and nutritional supplements to compensate for any nutritional deficiencies. Clinic visits took place twice a week for bead sticking and diet progress monitoring. Body composition measurements were collected over 3 months.
From baseline to 3 months, the men had an 8.61 kg reduction in body weight, a 2.88 kg/m2 reduction in BMI, a 10.43 cm decrease in waist circumference, a 3.98% decrease in body fat and a 2.11% increase in muscle mass. The cohort also had increases in muscle-to-fat ratio and leg muscle mass and decreases in basal metabolic rate and visceral fat level.
In the second study, researchers obtained data from 81 women in Japan aged 23 to 74 years from a dataset of participants who underwent the same acupuncture and diet weight-loss program as the men in the first study. Women were matched with men from the first study 1:1, based on age and BMI values at baseline. Body composition measurement changes from baseline to 3 months were compared between men and women.
From baseline to 3 months, men and women had similar reductions in weight loss, BMI and waist circumference. Men had a greater decrease in muscle mass compared with women (mean change, –5% vs. –2.8%; P < .001) while women had a greater decrease in body fat percentage than men (mean change, –4.5% vs. –4%; P = .04). Basal metabolic rate dropped more in men vs. women (mean change, –101 kcal vs. –66 kcal; P < .001). The ratio of muscle-to-fat also increase more in men vs. women (mean change, 0.26 vs. 0.15; P < .001).
Fujimoto said future research is needed to examine the mechanisms behind how acupuncture contributes to weight loss in adults.
“It is likely that the stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system is involved in the production of leptin, but we would like to conduct further research to gather supporting data,” Fujimoto said.
Collapse
Fujimoto T, et al. PO4.085. Presented at: European Congress on Obesity; May 17-20, 2023; Dublin.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts