Clinical Study Of Acupuncture Treatment Of 85 Cases Of Simple Obesity

Overweight and obesity represent a rapidly growing threat to the health of populations in an increasing number of countries. Indeed they are now so common that they are replacing those traditional problems such as under-nutrition and infectious diseases as the most significant causes of ill health. Obesity comorbidities include coronary heart disease, hypertension and stroke, certain types of cancer, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, gallbladder disease, dyslipidaemis, osteoarthritis and gout, and pulmonary diseases, including sleep apnoea. Even worse, obese patients suffer from social bias? prejudice and discrimination, coming from not only the general public but also the health professional. It may make them reluctant to seek medical assistance.Simple obesity is a complex and incompletely understood disease. It is a serious disease as it may cause directly or indirectly many health related problems. Dietary management is the most conventional treatment for overweight and obesity. It usually induces weight loss in the short term. However, it has a poor long-term effectiveness, especially when used in isolation. The combination of exercise and diet is more effective than either method used alone in promoting fat loss. (Exercise also limits the proportion of lean tissue lost in slimming regimens and limits weight regain, while physical activity may favorably affect body fat distribution.) Drugs and prescriptions for weight loss have been available for years in many forms and varieties. But studies showed that they may also affect bodily health and may lead to chest pain, increased heart beating rate, palpitations, sweating, heat intolerance, and general nervousness. These are very unpleasant and actually quite dangerous. Acupuncture could be a better alternative as, apart from its effectiveness, the side effect caused is known to be little. In order to assess the result of the treatment, the levels of lipids and Leptin of a patient is taken before and after 20 course of acupuncture treatment. It is believed that obese people are insulin and leptin resistant, therefore, the parameters that are going to be taken into consideration include age, sex, circumferences of arm, thigh, waist/hip circumferences ratio, blood glucose level, cholesterol level(HDL-C & LDL-C), triglycerides and Leptin values. It is hoped that the study could provide a more definitive answer as to the degree of effectiveness of acupuncture in treating simple and obesity especially concerning the resistance of insulin and leptin. They would be treated by acupuncture and their progress monitored so that a conclusion could be drawn as to its effectiveness.Result: Acupuncture is another method in treating simple obesity and overweight. It lowered the level of Leptin, cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides and blood glucose and at the same time raised the level of HDL-C; P<0.01.