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Electroacupuncture in the Treatment of Obesity

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Abstract

Obesity is becoming one of the most common health problems in the world. Many other disorders, such as hypertension and diabetes are considered as the consequences of obesity. Since effective remedies are rare (only two drugs, Orlistat and Sibutramine, were officially approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for long-term obesity treatment so far), researchers are trying to discover new therapies for obesity, and acupuncture is among the most popular alternative approaches. To facilitate weight reduction, one can use manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture (EA) or transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS). As the parameters of the EA or TEAS can be precisely characterized and the results are more or less reproducible, this review will focus on EA as a treatment modality for obesity. Results obtained in this laboratory in recent five years will be summarized in some detail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Wang, De-Run Tian & Ji-Sheng Han

  2. Department of Anatomy, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, People’s Republic of China

    De-Run Tian

Authors
  1. Fei Wang
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  2. De-Run Tian
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  3. Ji-Sheng Han
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Correspondence to Fei Wang.

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Special issue article in honor of Dr. Ji-Sheng Han.

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Wang, F., Tian, DR. & Han, JS. Electroacupuncture in the Treatment of Obesity. Neurochem Res 33, 2023–2027 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9822-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9822-6

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