Effect of acupuncture at obese people on appetite hormones

Obesity is an energy balance problem caused by excessive fat accumulation. Physical, behavioral, metabolic, psychological or environmental factors can cause obesity. Obesity treatment includes; diet, exercise, behavior treatment, pharmacotherapy, surgery and at the recent years acupuncture can be used. Acupuncture is the oldest known treatment option in traditional Chinese medicine. It increases endogenous opioid levels causing pain relief effect. Its effect on obesity has various mechanisms. Decreasing appetite, decreasing gastric acid level, metabolic effect on increasing beta endorphin levels and increasing levels of serotonin levels which increases sympathetic system activity are the main mechanisms.Acupuncture application also has effects on biochemical parameters. We, in our study, have searched the effect of acupuncture on appetite hormones.20 of 40 female obese volunteers who have referred to Gazi University acupuncture outpatient clinic between 29.01.2009 and 07.01.2010 were treated with sham acupuncture. They had two sessions of 20 minutes per week with a total of ten sessions. The needles were not sticked but just applied under a tape. 20 other female patients had real acupuncture on their real acupuncture points for two sessions of 20 minutes per week with a total of ten sessions. Study groups consist of 4 groups made of pre-sham, post-sham, pre-acupuncture and post-acupuncture.Serum insulin, serum leptin, plasma ghrelin and plasma CCK levels were measured by ELISA.The results of our study were, no statistical significance found between pre-sham and post-sham for serum insulin and leptin levels but there was statistical significance for pre-acupuncture and post-acupuncture (insulin; paired-samples t, p;=0, leptin; paired-samples t, p=0,017). We determined that serum leptin and insulin levels were decreased. Leptin levels decreased with a ratio of 25,2%, insulin levels decreased with a ratio of 43,3%.We did not find any statistical significance at plasma ghrelin and plasma CCK levels for both acupuncture and sham groups (paired-samples t, p>0,05).We found statistical significance at 20 female obese volunteers regarding weight loss with a decrease of 3,5% (paired-samples t, p=0).Weight loss after acupuncture treatment is also supported by other studies. Although there were a small number of studies based on effect of acupuncture on appetite hormones our study was the first to evaluate ghrelin and CCK levels.Our idea is, more studies are needed on both human and animals to evaluate the mechanisms of acupuncture on appetite hormones.