Obesity and hyperlipaemia are becoming increasingly important medical issues. If acupuncture could help in reducing body weight and blood lipids, its clinical use could be greatly expanded. Quite a number of reports on this effect have been published, but unfortunately, almost none of them is methodologically sound. There are only two preliminary reports of randomized controlled clinical trials that can be cited here (238, 239), although criticism of the study design cannot be totally avoided.

Acupuncture may be of benefit to patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Its efficacy has been shown to be superior to that of placebos and comparable with that of tolbutamide (240, 241).

Anisodamine is effective in treating excessive salivation induced by drugs (usually antipsychotics), but acupuncture seems to be more effective (242).

There are also reports on the treatment of Sjögren syndrome (sicca syndrome) (243), Raynaud syndrome (244), Stein-Leventhal syndrome (polycystic ovary syndrome) (244), and Tietze syndrome (costochondritis) (245), which indicate beneficial effects from acupuncture treatment. Since these reports have appeared only in individual papers, confirmation by further study is necessary.