Can beauty salons really help people get slim?

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Among many of the unmitigated megacity conundrums that concern the expanding Chinese middle class, how to lose weight effortlessly stays very high on the list.

A new therapy that is supposed to efficiently help people slim down is the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) of acupuncture. It has been gaining popularity - and controversy - lately in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

A local resident has been reportedly hospitalized and diagnosed with malnutrition after trying out the therapy, which involves a combination of stimulating the body with silver needle and undertaking a strict diet.

Under the pseudonym of Wang Hai, the man told the Beijing Youth Daily (BYD) newspaper that he had spent 5,600 yuan (about 846 US dollars) in a “beauty salon” for a 21-day treatment that “helped” him lose 20 pounds, only to begin feeling “fatigued and dizzy” afterwards, two effects associated with malnutrition.

A doctor has ordered Mr. Wang to stop the diet immediately.

In an investigation into the beauty salon that Mr. Wang attended, the newspaper found that many “beauty salons” in Beijing advertised a similar synthesis of acupuncture and dieting that claims to drive down weight significantly in a very short period, suggesting that it could be the lean diet that causes the drastic weight loss rather than the TCM treatment.

The inner of a beauty salon, which mainly provide acupuncture treatment, in Jianwai SoHo, Beijing. /Photo via Beijing Youth Daily.

“Being on diet alone cannot achieve the desired weight loss”, an unnamed “specialist” told the newspaper. “Only with our help can you succeed.”

The newspaper found that the authenticity of these TCM practitioners could be suspect as well. According to an investigative report from an undercover reporter for the BYD, the client was told to starve for 24 hours immediately after being treated by a “specialist who couldn’t even remember the disciplinary parlance.”

“Some of the ‘specialists’ don’t even hold a high school degree,” the newspaper found, adding that the job description of these salons for an acupuncture specialist seldom specify any qualification. Instead, companies are often found claiming to “have spent one month on training these ‘specialists’”.

However, in China, acupuncture is a medical practice, limited to officially certificated physicians of sanctioned medical institutions.

Liu Guoxiang, a doctor specializing in acupuncture with Beijing Dongcheng Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said local hospitals have set up acupuncture departments which provides treatment for obesity.

“A strict examination of patients must precede any prescription,” Liu told the newspaper.

“I don’t think I’m bold enough to visit a salon full of staff who practice acupuncture only with a month of training,” Liu added wryly.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) article, Healthy Diet, which was released in 2015, sustainable weight loss comes from healthier food choice, rather than following a quick-fix diets.