Can Acupuncture Help with Weight Loss

Acupuncture’s efficacy in weight loss is just beginning to be understood, but researchers have proposed several potential benefits, including:

• Better lipid metabolism – Lipids (which include fats) are metabolized through a complex series of processes. If any of these processes are disrupted, it can result in abnormal levels of serum lipids – a condition known as dyslipidemia. Dyslipidemia is considered one of the primary features of obesity and can be caused by congenital or acquired factors.

  Acupuncture treatments can promote homeostasis in the metabolic pathways associated with lipid synthesis and expression. Researchers have found that acupuncture needles inserted in the right acupuncture points can upregulate the expression of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). AMPK is secreted by fat cells and deactivates the processes responsible for further lipid production. However, in some patients with dyslipidemia, AMPK is not secreted in sufficient levels to affect lipid production.

  By interfacing with the body’s endocrine system, acupuncture is able to restore AMPK production, along with many other markers of healthy lipid metabolism, helping correct some of the abnormal metabolic processes responsible for excess weight gain.

• Reduced inflammation – Although the exact reasons are still being researched, there’s a link between chronic, low-level inflammation and weight gain. Researchers have found elevated levels of pro-inflammatory factors (such as cytokines) in obese patients, and these inflammatory factors may accelerate the development of conditions like atherosclerosis and insulin resistance.

  Acupuncture treatments have demonstrated efficacy in reducing a large variety of inflammatory factors, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) interleukin-6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Obese patients show higher levels of these compounds, but acupuncture can downregulate the chronic inflammatory processes that lead to their over-expression. This can bring inflammation levels down and improve conditions that may make it difficult to lose weight, such as insulin resistance.

• Reduced appetite and better hormonal balance – A convincing body of research has demonstrated a positive link between acupuncture and healthier hormonal expressions, perhaps due to acupuncture’s ability to stimulate various parts of the endocrine system and other hormone-secreting organs.

  The hormones leptin and ghrelin play important roles in weight loss and gain, and the levels of both can be influenced by acupuncture (specifically, auricular, or ear acupuncture).

  Ghrelin is the body’s “hunger” hormone and increases in concentration before a meal, driving appetite. Leptin is the opposite, suppressing hunger when fat levels are sufficient. In people struggling to lose weight, leptin levels may be lower, or the brain may not respond to leptin appropriately.

  Acupuncture can help balance out these hormones and therefore help regulate appetite and food intake more effectively.

• Conversion of white fat to brown fat – White adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) are the two primary types of fat cells. They play very different roles in the body. WAT stores energy and secretes hormones (and cytokines) that influence lipid metabolism and insulin use. BAT is “burned” to generate heat, and its levels drop in people as they age.

  Acupuncture treatments can increase the presence of compounds that transform WAT to BAT. Specifically, acupuncture triggers the expression of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1), a compound that mediates the conversion of WAT to BAT.

  By increasing UCP-1 expression in patients, acupuncture can help with weight loss by increasing production of brown fat, which is readily metabolized by the body to produce heat.

• Better stress relief and sleep quality – Acupuncture’s relaxing nature and its stress-reducing effects on the nervous system (via activating the parasympathetic nervous systems) can modulate certain hormones that can increase appetite and encourage additional fat storage, like cortisol. Stress and anxiety can also adversely affect sleep, and poor sleep is also associated with obesity.

  By curtailing stress, acupuncture can reduce the impact of those stress hormones on appetite and sleep quality, providing an additional edge in weight loss efforts.