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Hindi Review Article
Effects of Acupuncture on Obesity and Adipokines Involved in Body Weight Control
| García-Vivas Jessica1, González-González Roberto2, García-Cardona Ma. Del Carmen3, López-Camarillo César4 and Marchat Laurence A1,3* | |
| 1Doctorate Biotechnology Network, National School of Medicine and Homeopathy, México | |
| 2Especialidad de Acupuntura Humana, Escuela Nacional de Medicina y Homeopatía del IPN, Guillermo Massieu Helguera #239, Fracc. La Escalera, Ticoman, México D.F., C.P. 07320, México | |
| 3Programa Institucional de Biomedicina Molecular, Escuela Nacional de Medicina y Homeopatía del IPN, Guillermo Massieu Helguera #239, Fracc. La Escalera, Ticoman, México D.F., C.P. 07320, México | |
| 4Posgrado en Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México, San Lorenzo #290, Col. del Valle, México D.F., C.P. 03110, México | |
| Corresponding Author : | Dr. Laurence A. Marchat Programa Institucional de Biomedicina Molecular Escuela Nacional de Medicina y Homeopatía del IPN Guillermo Massieu Helguera #239, Fracc. La Escalera Ticoman, México D.F., C.P. 07320, México Tel: (52 55) 5729 6300 ext. 55543 E-mail: lmarchat@gmail.com, lmarchat@ipn.mx |
| Received July 04, 2013; Accepted August 17, 2013; Published August 24, 2013 | |
| Citation: Garcia-Vivas J, Gonzalez-Gonzalez R, Garcia-Cardona M, Lopez- Camarillo C, Marchat LA (2013) Effects of Acupuncture on Obesity and Adipokines Involved in Body Weight Control. J Homeop Ayurv Med 2:129. doi: 10.4172/2167-1206.1000129 | |
| Copyright: © 2013 Garcia-Vivas J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Obesity is a worldwide disease that results from a deregulation of energy balance and changes in adipokines
and other molecules with metabolic relevance. Pharmacological treatments for obesity are often associated to drug adverse effects. Among alternative and complementary therapeutic methods for obesity treatment, Traditional Chinese Medicine and particularly acupuncture that have been practiced for thousands of years in China, have been increasingly used for the efficient control of body weight without producing negative side effects and weight regain. Several works have suggested that the effects of acupuncture may be related to hypothalamus stimulation, which may regulate the production of some proteins involved in food intake and energy expenditure balance. In this review, we present the main results of English publications obtained from PubMed database as well as data from works published in original Chinese language. These reports describe the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for obesity. They also provide evidence about the regulation of the principal adipokines related to obesity, namely leptin and adiponectin, as well as other relevant biochemical molecules. Although further well-designed and controlled studies are required,
this knowledge contributes to gain some insight in the mechanisms underlying the effect of acupuncture for obesity treatment.
