Photobiomodulation: a potential adjunctive obesity intervention a review

Abstract

Obesity, a largely intractable health condition with incalculable health and financial and social costs and ramifications remains an immense challenge to mitigate effectively. Multiple interventions to offset obesity, while studied and implemented for many years, have generally failed to eliminate this growing global epidemic. Alternately, interventions that can offer hope, especially to those who are physically as well as emotionally challenged, with negative outcome expectations, would appear of high significance. Studied for over 40 years, various forms of light therapy are proving to be of possible adjunctive benefit in efforts to reduce excess weight. This mini review discusses some findings regarding photobiomodulation or light therapy and whether more intense study and evaluation will improve the overall obesity burden and outlook. Extracted from current literature, it is concluded that this is a field of significant promise