[Resource: See more at Acupuncture for Weight Loss and Treatment of Obesity-Related Diseases]
Auricular acupuncture, or ear acupuncture, is very useful for the treatment of obesity and for healthy weight loss. Clinical studies have suggested that various methods using the mechanisms of ear acupuncture can achieve good results for weight management.
For example, a group of researchers in Japan studied the effects of auricular acupuncture among 55 non-obese healthy volunteers and mildly obese patients (Shiraishi, 2003). They placed small auricular needles into the bilateral cavum conchae areas of the ears of the participating subjects.
They found that during the auricular acupuncture treatment, 63.6% of the subjects had a reduced body weight, with a significant relationship between the body weight and fat volume. In comparison, there was no significant change of the mean body weight of the control group.
Auricular acupuncture may work through stimulating the auricular branch of the vagal nerve and increasing the serotonin levels, to inhibit appetite. A study done in South Australia investigated the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture on appetite inhibition among sixty overweight subjects (Richards, 1998).
In the study, the test group attached an acupuncture device to the acupuncture ear points Shenmen and Stomach. After four weeks of the treatment, 95% of the active group noticed the suppression of appetite and their mean body weight had a significant reduction. In the mean time, the control group did not report such changes.
A clinical group in New York applied another method. They used the “hunger point†on the tragus of the ear to suppress appetite for weight control (Choy, 1998). They applied ear-clips for the patients to wear on the tragus. They measured the duration of single gastric peristaltic waves before and after the test for two cycles. They observed a significant prolongation of gastric peristalsis time with the application of the ear-clips.
The results of these studies show that auricular acupuncture is an effective therapeutic method for weight loss, probably through suppressing appetite. Various methods can be applied for auricular acupuncture, including small needles, devices, and ear-clips.
Auricular acupuncture can also be used together with body acupuncture. For instance, researchers in Nanjing China compared different combinations of treatment methods in 195 cases of obesity (Qunli and Zhicheng, 2005). They found that the effects of the combined application of ear acupuncture and body acupuncture were superior to those of using body acupuncture alone.
References:
Choy, D. S. and E. Eidenschenk (1998). Effect of tragus clips on gastric peristalsis: a pilot study. J Altern Complement Med 4(4): 399-403.
Qunli, W. and L. Zhicheng (2005). Acupuncture treatment of simple obesity. J Tradit Chin Med 25(2): 90-4.
Richards, D. and J. Marley (1998). Stimulation of auricular acupuncture points in weight loss. Aust Fam Physician 27 Suppl 2: S73-7.
Shiraishi, T., M. Onoe, et al. (2003). Effects of bilateral auricular acupuncture stimulation on body weight in healthy volunteers and mildly obese patients. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 228(10): 1201-7.
Information on Chinese Medicine for Weight Loss:
* Chinese Diet Recipes for Healthy Weigh Loss
* Chinese Herbal Recipes for Weight Loss in Different Age Groups
* Personalized Chinese Herbal Remedies for Weight Loss in Different Types of Obesity
* Classical and Patent Chinese Herbal Recipes for Weight Loss
* Chinese Herbal Recipes for Obesity-Related Diseases
