Objective: To investigate the underlying mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of simple obesity patients.Methods: A total of 40 simple obesity outpatients (acupuncture group) and 40 normal subjects(control group) were observed in this study.For obesity patients

Liangqiu(ST 34)

Fenglong(ST 40)

Tianshu(ST 25)

Jimen(SP 11)

etc.were selected according to spleen deficiency

stomach heat and phlegm accumulation syndromes

and punctured once daily in the first week and once every other day afterwards

one month altogether.Before and after treatment

the patients' and normal subjects' height and body weight were detected for calculating body mass index(BMI);and fasting venous blood samples were collected for assaying tumour necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α)

resistin

fasting glucose(FBG)

and fasting insulin(FINS) levels in simple obesity subjects.In addition

homeostasis model assessment(HOMA) was used to compute insulin resistance(IR) index.Results: Compared with control group

BMI

serum FINS

FBG

TNFα and resistin contents

and HOMA-IR values of acupuncture group were significantly higher(P<0.05

0.01).Comparison between pre-and post-treatment showed that after acupuncture treatment

serum BMI

FINS

resistin and TNF-α contents and HOMA-IR decreased considerably(P<0.05

0.01)

denoting that acupuncture could effectively lower obesity induced abnormal increase of the aforementioned indexes.There was a positive correlation between the difference of HOMA-IR and that of BMI

FINS

TNF-α and resistin between pre-and post-treatment.Conclusion: Acupuncture can improve metabolism of sugar and lipid

relieve insulin resistance through lowering concentrations of blood TNF-α and resistin levels and is thus an effective remedy for simple obesity.