J Tradit Chin Med. 1993 Sep; 13(3): 169-73.

Effect of acupuncture on weight loss evaluated by adrenal function.

Liu Z, Sun F, Li J, Wang Y, Hu K.

Nanjing College of TCM.

In order to understand the relationship between patients' adrenal function and simple obesity and effect of acupuncture on it, the obesity indices, lipid indices, fasting blood-glucose, noradrenaline, dopamine, adrenalin and cortisol were observed. The results indicated that patients with simple obesity had hypofunction of the sympathetic-adrenal system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system. Acupuncture treatment not only affected weight loss but also enhanced functioning of the two systems, suggesting that the effect of acupuncture on weight loss may be produced by enhancing the functions of both the sympathetic-adrenal system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system.