Hui Li,1 Dan Wang2 

1Department of Rehabilitation, Chongqing Jiangbei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Traditional Chinese Medicine College, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Dan Wang, Traditional Chinese medicine college, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, #16 huangjiahu West Road, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-27-85332102, Email Wangdan_19950203@126.com

Abstract: Insulin resistance (IR) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are representative metabolic diseases, and no pharmacological therapeutic strategies have been developed worldwide. In recent studies, acupuncture has increasingly been used as an integrative or complementary therapy for IR and NAFLD. In this review, we summarized 18 clinical trials and 25 animal studies to reveal the function and potential molecular mechanisms of acupuncture for IR and NAFLD treatment. We found that acupuncture can be a first-line treatment strategy for IR and has a positive therapeutic effect on NAFLD. Thus, this review provides clinicians with a deeper understanding of the scientific evidence for acupuncture treatment of IR and NAFLD. Finally, we highlighted three potential limitations of existing studies on acupuncture for the treatment of IR and NAFLD, including small sample sizes and inconsistent operating techniques.

Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic health, alternative therapy