PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A TRIAL ON AN ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT FOR REDUCING WEIGHT

As the prevalence of obesity increases worldwide, new treatments are being sought for weight reduction. The aim is to determine whether laser acupuncture is an effective treatment for simple obesity in participants. The study was conducted in Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH) between May 2013 and present. Subjects inclusion criteria were: (1)above 20 years of age, (2) BMI >25kg/m2, or waist circumference over 80cm for females/ 90cm for males. Study design was a double-blind crossover trial. The study format consisted of each participant undergoing two 12-week sessions of acupuncture with a 2-week break in between. The participants received laser acupuncture during one of the 12-week sessions and received sham acupuncture in the other 12-week period. In this report, we present preliminary results with datasets from the first 60 participants. Participants were randomly split into two groups, and no significant difference in baseline characteristics was found between the sham (SA) and laser acupuncture (LA) groups. We obtained a statistically significant drop in body weight (p=0.046) and waist circumference (p=0.003) during the first 12 weeks of LA treatment. No significant decrease in these two parameters was found in the placebo group. However, a significant reduction in body fat was found in the SA group was found (p=0.036) with no change in the LA group. The preliminary results of our randomized clinical trial show statistically significant reductions in body weight and waist circumference after 12 weeks of laser acupuncture treatment.