abstracted & translated by

Honora Lee Wolfe, Lic. Ac., FNAAOM (USA)

Keywords: Chinese medicine, acupuncture, serum lipids, high cholesterol

On pages 29-30 of issue #5, 2004 of Shan Xi Zhong Yi (Shanxi Chinese Medicine), Tu Wei-qing of the No. 1 Hospital affiliated with the Tianjin College of Chinese Medicine published an article titled, "Observations on Acupuncture Treatment & Serum Lipid Dyscrasia." Because high cholesterol is such a problem in developed nations, a summary of this article is presented below.

Cohort description:

Altogether, there were 68 persons enrolled in this two-wing comparison study. In the healthy group, there were 34 persons, 17 males and 17 females with an average age of 50. In the treatment group, there were also 34 persons, 17 males and 17 females with an average age of 52. All members of this second group had had a stroke accompanied by hyperlipidemia. Serum lipids were analyzed in the healthy group and before and after treatment with acupuncture in the treatment group. Then these values were compared.

Treatment method:

The 34 patients who had had a stroke were needled perpendicularly to a depth of 1-1.5 inches bilaterally at Nei Guan (Per 6) using twisting and turning draining technique for one minute. Then they were needled at Ren Zhong (GV 26) angled downward to a depth of 0.5 inches using sparrow-pecking draining technique until the eyes teared. Finally, Ji Quan (Ht 1), Chi Ze (Lu 5), He Gu (LI 4), and Wei Zhong (Bl 40) were needled with twisting and turning draining technique until the extremities and the hands twitched three times. This was done one time per day, and results were analyzed after 40 days of treatment.

Study outcomes:

The following chart shows the relationship of mean high density lipids (HDL), total cholesterol (TC), and the ration of high density lipids to total cholesterol in the two groups before the treatment group received acupuncture.

As this table shows, members of the treatment group had lower mean serum HDL and higher total cholesterol than did the healthy group. This then led to a lower (less healthy) mean HDL/TC ratio. The next chart shows the mean change in these values from before to after treatment in the patients who had suffered from a stroke and had high cholesterol.

This table shows that acupuncture did result in markedly raising the good HDL, lowering the total cholesterol, and improving the HDL to TC ratio. Low serum HDL cholesterol is believed to be a risk marker for the development of coronary heart disease since it promotes the development of arterial atherosclerosis.

Copyright © Blue Poppy Press, 2005. All rights reserved.

For more information on the Chinese medical treatment of high cholesterol, see Bob Flaws & Philippe Sionneau’s The Treatment of Modern Western Medical Diseases with Chinese Medicine available from Blue Poppy Press.