Homoeopathic management of obesity: A short review

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a burgeoning public health challenge across the world. It doubly affects the developing countries that are burdened with the communicable and vector borne diseases, and further predisposes them to many non-communicable diseases. Homoeopathic management of obesity along with lifestyle alteration is being researched to study the effectiveness of homoeopathic drugs, which has been discussed in this review. Objective: To review the literature of published studies relating to homeopathic management of obesity. Materials and methods: A comprehensive search from major biomedical databases including National Medical Library (PubMed), Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Science Direct and AMED was conducted using the search term ‘obesity’, ‘weight loss’, along with ‘homoeopathy’, and ‘homeopathy’. Results: Sixteen papers relating to obesity management using homoeopathy were identified. Out of seventeen papers, six were randomized controlled trials, two were quasi experimental studies, one was case report, one was case series, four were preclinical studies, one paper was review article and one was systematic analysis of randomized controlled trials of homoeopathy in obesity. Conclusion: Various studies showed the efficacy of homoeopathic medicines in the management of obesity and other symptoms related to obesity especially when individualized constitutional homoeopathic medicine was prescribed. Further research through prospective observation and randomized controlled trials with individualized homoeopathic medication is warranted to strongly support the effectiveness of homoeopathic medicines in the management of obesity.