Introduction: The implications of obesity, especially visceral fat, in health are well known. It would be desirable to control obesity by safe and effective treatment modalities.Aim: To assess the effectiveness of Auricular Acupuncture (AA) on body weight loss in a Portuguese sample.

Methods: After a pre-study, a prospective experimental randomized, controlled and single-blinded study was conducted. The sample included 31 adult women with ages ranging from 20 to 51 years old. The groups had a frequency of physical activity = 2 and = 4 times per week. Individuals with BMI = 24.9 Kg/m² and pregnant women excluded from the study. All participants were then randomized into one of three groups: group 1 was treated with Vaccaria seeds plus diet therapy, group 2 with ASP needles plus diet therapy and finally, group 3 received only diet therapy. A licensed nutritionist prescribed the hypocaloric diet plan. Baseline evaluation included anthropometric measures collected according to standardized procedures. They received two treatments per week for a total of 6 weeks. After one month of follow-up, all the anthropometric measures were reevaluated. Main parameters: Weight/body composition by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Secondary parameters: Waist to height ratio (WHtR), weight and Body Mass Index (BMI).

Results: Group 2 was significantly associated with lower levels of waist circumference and WHtR (ß= -2,250 95%CI -3,810; -0,691 and ß= -0,014 95%CI -0,023; -0,004, respectively).

Conclusion: We found that the AA with ASP needles has shown the best results on weight and abdominal adiposity loss. The trial has registration number: NCT04834180.

Auricular Acupuncture, Hypocaloric diet, Waist circumference, Waist to height ratio, Body Mass Index, Weight, Visceral fat