Laser Acupuncture Found Effective for Simple Weight Loss

"Acupuncture" can be applied through various mechanisms all with differing results and more, or less, appropriate for certain conditions.  Along with common needling, acupressure, moxibustion, pricking, medical qi gong, and lasers can all be used to manipulate acupuncture points for any number of conditions.  A team of researchers from the Department of Chinese Medicine at Chang Gung University College of Medicine in Taiwan recently looked at using laser acupuncture for basic weight loss cases (i.e. those without known problems such as thyroid imbalances, diabetes, etc.).

As published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, this study found a relatively simple laser acupuncture protocol was helpful in reducing both body weight and body mass index ratings for the 73 woman and 22 men who participated in the study over 5 weeks.  The points used with .25 J of energy (3x/week) were the auricular points "Stomach", and "Hunger" and the body points, ST 25, ST 28, ST 40, SP 14 and CV 9.  The average weight loss was 7lbs (3.17 kg).  The study also used a calorie restrictive diet tailored to each person (females 1620kcal/day and males 1894.2kcal on average).

What this study didn't compare was differences in results between body acupuncture and the laser therapy.  Generally, however, these tend to be quite similar from previous studies.