الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 245 |  |  |
| | | from | 245 | | |
Abstract
Childhood obesity has become a worldwide epidemic in Western and in developing countries (Rokholm et al,2010 & Waters et al,2011).
Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health problem of the 21st century. The problem is global and is steadily affecting many low, middle and high income countries, particularly in urban areas. The prevalence has increased at an alarming rate. Globally in 2010, the number of overweight children under the age of five is estimated to be over 42 million. Close to 35 million of these are living in developing countries (Sahoo et al, 2015).
Acupuncture is the stimulation of specific acupoints along the skin of the body involving various methods such as the application of heat, pressure, or laser or penetration of thin needles (Adam et al,2011).
The results of many studies investigating the use of acupuncture for weight control provide preliminary evidence of the potential effect of acupuncture on weight loss (Wang et al, 2007).
The objective of this study was to assess the effect of auricular acupuncture on weight reduction, BMI, BMIP, lipid profile, fasting insulin and lepin levels, in a sample of obese children.
At the beginning of the study the number of patients was sixty and they divided randomly into two groups, but a number of patients did not complete the study. So the study was conducted on 34 obese children (6-12years) attending the outpatient’s clinics of the National Research Center from September 2013 to June 2015.
They neither had received any other weight control measures nor had any medical and/or drug history within the last 3 months before their participation in the study. These subjects were divided randomly into 2 groups.
group A: were subjected to auricular acupuncture, balanced low caloric diet and physical activity-based lifestyle intervention for 12 weeks.
group B: were subjected to sham auricular acupuncture, balanced low caloric diet and physical activity-based lifestyle intervention for 12 weeks.
In both groups: acupuncture and sham acupuncture were given twice weekly over the course of 12 weeks. Auricular points that were used include; Spiritual Gate (TF2), Hunger Point (TG3),), Stomach (CR1), and Endocrine point (IT2).
Our results revealed significant reductions in weight, BMI, HC,WC, Cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and insulin resistance after treatment in both groups A and B but they were more in group A(p value <0.001).
There were significant reductions in insulin in group A after treatment and they were more than reduction in group B (p value 0.005).
In conclusion, auricular acupuncture could be used as a complementary method to treat obesity in children in combination with diet regulation and physical activity.