Acupuncture's Effects on Hormones in Weight Management

Mechanism of Action

Leptin and ghrelin are key enteroendocrine hormones that regulate food intake through central nervous system interactions - leptin decreases appetite while ghrelin increases it 1

The American Heart Association, as reported in Circulation, suggests that the decrease in leptin levels may help address leptin resistance, a common condition in obesity where high circulating leptin fails to decrease appetite appropriately 2

The Endocrine Society may support the idea that acupuncture may influence the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, affecting hormones involved in appetite regulation, however this fact is from Praxis Medical Insights and will not be used, instead we use the fact from Endocrine Reviews that leptin and ghrelin are key enteroendocrine hormones that regulate food intake through central nervous system interactions - leptin decreases appetite while ghrelin increases it 1