Weight loss therapy with acupuncture effecting HbA1c levels

Dr. Feriyde Çalışkan TürDiabetic Medications Conference, 2015, Las Vegas

Tepecik Training and Research Hospitalİzmir, Turkey

Diabetes and HbA1c

• It's one of the most common chronic diseases effecting the world population.

• Exact cure of this disease is unfortunately not possible, however it can only be kept under control.

• HbA1c; routinely used to estimate elevated blood sugar levels

• Objective parameter is measured to determine the efficacy of diabetes management.

Diabetes and Obesity

• A metabolic problem; the pathologic changes is increase in body fat due to displacement in glucose metabolism.

• Much of them are in prediabetic state.• Obesity; it shows a growing trend and almost 20% of the

population in OECD countries (up to 35% in some) • It poses a serious threat to public health in the 21st

century and is addressed as an urgent international problem.

• WHO's diabetes work focuses on healthy diet and regular physical activity for reducing the growing global problem and progression of the disease.

Treatment of Diabetes and Obesity

• Direct control of the disease by only these factors is difficult and not always possible

• Researches on alternative approaches such as acupncture gains importance

• WHO has reported that acupuncture can also be used as an adjunctive treatment for obesity.

Acupunture

• Balance and maintaine the life energy or 'Qi' (circulate through ‘meridians’ in the body).

• The stimuli may produce changes through neural and hormonal mechanisms.

• The study which supports acupuncture therapy effectiveness for both obese and diabetic patients:

• The effectiveness of acupuncture was monitored with HbA1c, BWR and BMI improvement

Acupuncture Therapy and HbA1c• Total of 20 sessions over 10 weeks that

were delivered for weight loss therapy.

• Before treatments; blood was drawn for measuring the hormonal and metabolic status,and HbA1c levels.

• Weight and height were measured for calculating BMI.

• 8 points on the ear • 7 points on the body

Acupuncture Therapy and HbA1c

• Based on; TCM points for digestion and psy-chologic effects (stomach, pancreas, hunger, Shenmen, liver);

• Others were based on points related to modern Western medicine pathophysiology

• Dietician to consume low carbonhydrate diet and exercise were adviced but not monitored.

• Patients were instructed to continue all of the irregular medical treatments/medications, and provided for healty eating habits.

Acupuncture Therapy and HbA1c

Acupuncture treatment and HbA1c

Results 1

• Metabolic health is a more important determinant for diabetes development than simple obesity

• Diabetes was the most common metabolic condition in our patients, present in 38% of subjects: several previously undiagnosed diabetics were identified.

• HbA1clevels dropped significantly more in diabetics than non-diabetics (0.6 ± 0.7% and 0 ± 0.2%,respectively)

• In non-diabetics with normal HbA1c lev-els, acupuncture treatments caused no change in the levels, as acupuncture is not expected to cause a deviation from normal physiologic status.

Results 2

• Literally, vildagliptin was shown to reduce HbA1clevels by 0.7% over 8 months (other medications by 0.5-2%).

• HbA1clevels in our diabetic patients fell a similar amount (but fell more quickly) as those of diabetic patients on medical therapy in previous studies.

• Mean reduction in BMI was not significantly different between the diabetic and non-diabetic patients (2.8 ± 1.5% and 2.6 ± 1.8% respectively)

Results 3

• HbA1c levels fell a mean of 0.6%-1.3% in obese diabetics, after 10-12 weeks.

• There are no much study on this effect.

• Chine's literature have some study...

• First findings shows acupuncture treatment can be utilized for obese and diabetic patients with monitoring HbA1c as an indicator of its effectiveness.

• Our results confer reductions in weight, BMI and HbA1c levels after 20 sessions acupuncture therapy for obesity (and therefore to diabetics?)

• Alternative approaches such as acupuncture gains importance for diabetes control.

Conclusion