Acupuncture and weight gain hormones…..controlled study

We have all heard, perhaps too often, how calories in (food consumed) vs calories out (burned) determines if we are able to maintain our desired weight, gain weight, or loose weight.  If only things were that simple.  I turns out there are many factors that go into determining our weight, and what and how much we eat is only one aspect of it.   Obesity is NOT caused simply by eating too much.  Its very complicated.  The typical treatments for weight loss and obesity are:  exercise, diet, behavioral therapy, pharmacological intervention, surgery, and of course Acupuncture!!!  But how does acupuncture achieve weight loss?

The good bacteria colonizing the gut has many implications for health.  Good and healthy gut microbiome has now been linked to both Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases as well as to auto-immune reactions and more recently researchers are finding links with the gut microbiome and skin conditions.  Not surprisingly then there is a link now between weight gain and gut microbiome!!   In other words, if we dont have the right group of bacteria colonizing our gut, the weight may go on and seem next to impossible to take off!  The gut microbiome and weight gain, the right bacteria(s) in the gut, etc is the subject of another blog as this blog is focused on what can acupuncture do for you and weight loss:  and it turns out plenty.

First a quick education on some of the key players determining our metabolism and our cravings and therefore our appearance:

Ghrelin: aka the hunger hormone, its produced by the gastric cells and regulate hunger and therefore body weight, and energy homeostasis and the hormone itself is further controlled by the hypothalamus.  Thru a complex set of interactions and feedback, ghrelin also modulated the growth hormone.

Leptin:  this hormone is produced by the fat cells and help to regulate energy expenditure and it inhibits the actions of ghrelin.  In ways similar to insulin resistance or type II Diabetes where insulin sensitivity goes down and the pancreas needs to make more and more insulin to lower the blood sugar, leptin sensitivity also goes down with obesity and more and more leptin is required to counteract the hunger (and growth) effects of ghrelin.

Insulin:  This is the hormone produced by the beta-islet cells of the pancreas.  These cells are the same ones that are destroyed and incapable of producing insulin when we eat, and the cause of insulin dependent diabetes.  Insulin instructs the body to take glucose out of the blood and store it in the liver as reserves, or tells the body to turn the glucose into fat and to store it!

Cholecystokinin:  this is another peptide that is produced by the gastric cells (duodenal–segment between stomach and small intestine) and helps with fat and carbohydrate metabolism. It signals the release of other gastric enzymes, but also acts as an appetite suppressant.

In the study, 40 women of BMI >30 kg/m2 (considered obese or borderline) were treated twice per week by either sham acupuncture (points picked at random and not traditional locations of a given point) or treatment protocol acupuncture for a total of only ten sessions and the researches found that both BMI and the levels of insulin and leptin went down compared to the sham treatment group!

Imagine, insulin sensitivity goes down, fat metabolism goes up, and the weight comes off!