Auricular Acupressure for Weight Reduction in Obese Asian Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Treatment options for obesity include calorie reduction, increased activity, behavior modification, pharmacotherapy, and surgery. Alternative options such as ear acupuncture may be effective adjunct therapy. Objective: To test the efficacy of auricular acupressure for weight reduction in overweight and obese young adults. Design, Setting, and Participants: An 8-week randomized controlled trial of 55 young Asian adults (18-20 years) with a body mass index (BMI) of 23 or higher (the cutpoint for overweight in Asians set by the World Health Organization). Intervention: All participants met once weekly for 10 minutes. Ear acupressure treatment was administered weekly for 8 weeks (10 minutes per session): the control group had adhesive tape placed on the ear acupoints only while the experimental group had Japanese Magnetic Pearls placed on the ear acupoints using adhesive tape to hold them in place. Main Outcome Measure: Change in BMI from baseline to trial completion. Results: Control group BMI increased significantly from baseline by 0.05 (P <= .001) and the acupressure group BMI decreased significantly from baseline by 0.70 (P <= .001). Conclusion: Auricular acupressure using Japanese Magnetic Pearls could be used to decrease BMI in young adults.