The prevention and treatment of diabetes is becoming one of the greatest challenges of modern medicine, as it has become one of the most prevalent diseases in modern societies. According to the World Health Organisation, 347 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes. In Poland alone, however, there are over 3 million. According to research, one way of combating this insidious disease is pricking with needles according to traditional Chinese medicine. The issue of acupuncture and diabetes are currently receiving increasing attention.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease resulting from impaired secretion or action of insulin, which is a hormone produced by the pancreas. It is characterised by elevated glucose levels in the peripheral blood. Its main cause is that the body is unable to transport glucose into the cells, and there is too much glucose in the blood and the cells starve to death.
There are many varieties of diabetes. The most common are type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes. These differ in the course of the disease, susceptibility to treatment and incidence in the average patient.
The International Diabetes Federation has estimated that almost 1.3 billion people will have diabetes or pre-diabetes by 2045. Ninety-three per cent of people with pre-diabetes will develop type 2 diabetes within 20 years if they do not take treatment.
What are the causes and symptoms of diabetes?
The most common causes of diabetes include:
- genetic loadings
- poor diet (too many simple sugars and fats)
- chronic stress,
- inflammatory conditions of the pancreas,
- obesity or overweight,
- a weakened immune system.
Among the observed symptoms of diabetes, the most common are:
- dry mouth,
- sudden weight loss,
- increased hunger and thirst,
- frequent urination,
- weakness, irritability, difficulty concentrating.
Acupuncture and diabetes - what does the research say?
Acupuncture may help in the fight against one of the most serious diseases of civilisation, type 2 diabetes, according to a study conducted by researchers in Australia . The findings were published in Holistic Nursing Practice. A team of researchers from Edith Cowan University studied a group of 3,600 people diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Acupuncture therapy significantly improved markers such as fasting glycaemia, glycaemia after two hours and glycated haemoglobin in them. It also reduced the incidence of pre-diabetes.
In addition, a study at Manchester Royal Infirmary found that 77 per cent of patients with type 2 diabetes who experienced chronic neuropathic pain saw significant relief of their primary and secondary symptoms with acupuncture treatment. This allowed 67 per cent of patients to discontinue or significantly reduce the medication they had previously needed.
How does acupuncture lead to such results? Well, there is a higher than average concentration of nerves at the pricked points. It is likely that the stimulation of these points influences the brain to release natural analgesic substances.
So, as it turns out, acupuncture therapy can be used as one way to prevent diabetes.
Acupuncture and diabetes - how does needle insertion work?
Chinese medicine experts say that in order to maximise the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment, it should be started early in the development of diabetes.
This therapy affects the ability to achieve an improvement in blood flow in the body of diabetics and it appears to be of key importance to block or slow the onset of diabetic neuropathy. It can also have the effect of stabilising blood sugar levels and stimulating the nervous system to work properly.
A review of Chinese studies, which was published in journals on traditional Chinese medicine, argued that acupuncture reduces sugar levels in diabetic patients by up to 50 per cent. After acupuncture treatments, patients' average sugar levels even fell from 382mg/dl to 118mg/dl.
According to doctors, this method can be successfully used to additions to existing treatments for diabetes such as the use of insulin therapy.
