THE technique of acupuncture in Chinese medical treatments involves the use of needles (often silver) to penetrate the body along meridians, also called xuewei.

　　Today, the "magic" needles have found a new role in helping patients who want to lose weight or control their weight.

　　There are more than 300 meridans in the body which serve to transport qi and blood to maintain conductivity and to resist bacterial invasion.

　　There are 14 meridian channels distributed throughout the body with specific acupuncture points located along them.

　　By enhancing the function of the pathways and regulating bodily processes, including metabolism, acupuncture helps to lower body weight, body fat, insulin levels, and lipid levels in the blood.

　　Additional effects include controlling excessive appetite and satisfying hunger with less food.

　　According to Wang Yahui, an acupuncture doctor from the Shanghai Ren'ai Hospital, acupuncture, when combined with diet and aerobic counselling, can not only reduce body weight and body fat, but also keep them down.

　　An unbalanced metabolism usually leads to constipation, which is one of the major factors in being overweight. The acupuncture points are gathered around the abdomen to enhance the function of the gastrointestinal tract.

　　Acupuncture also helps take off excessive fat by improving the blood circulation in certain areas of the body, which advantages the patients who need weight loss in various parts of their bodies.

　　The treatment has to be applied once every four days and an entire acupuncture course usually takes 40 days.

　　The acupuncture points might vary due to a patient being overweight and different individuals suffering from constipation have different points from those suffering from an excessive appetite.

　　Generally patients could expect to lose 3kg after the first period of treatment. However, the range could expand if proper exercises were also conducted at the same time.

　　The therapy is geared towards people aged from 18 to 50. Patients with heart conditions or women who were menstruating were not suitable cases for treatment and acupuncture worked better in summers when metabolism function was higher.

　　By Li Jian and Xiao Fu