In Chinese medicine enhanced longevity is seen as a goal of therapy and within the purview of practitioners. There are herbal treatments, lifestyle suggestions and acupuncture prescriptions to benefit the “anti-aging” agenda which is part and parcel of acupuncture treatment.

Evidence:

Scientific evidence is sparse because to quantify the actual benefit of acupuncture on longevity would require large scale cohort studies looking at comparison populations of similar demographics, one receiving acupuncture and one not. Though many Chinese seniors attribute their healthy old age to acupuncture, the evidence is only anecdotal.

Science:

Physiological studies may shed some light on the possibilities of acupuncture treatment in its role in promoting longevity. There was a landmark study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looking at the length of a structure in subjects’ cells called “telomeres” in two populations of mothers. Accelerated telomere shortening may reflect stress-related oxidative damage to cells and accelerated aging, and severe psychosocial stress has been linked to telomere shortening. One group of mothers had normal children, the other had handicapped children. The stress of raising and caring for a handicapped child led to increased stress which showed up as shortened cellular telomeres. Though it seems intuitive that stress could shorten one’s lifespan, this demonstrated the effect at a cellular level (1).
My own research (2) and others’ (3) has shown that acupuncture can attenuate the stress response. Perhaps this is how acupuncture might lead to longevity. There was an additional study from China (4) comparing three groups. One took Vitamin E, one received traditional acupuncture points thought to enhance longevity and one received moxibustion on the navel (a traditional method to increase immunity and energetically nourish the whole body.) The patients receiving moxibustion and acupuncture had increased SOD levels and decreased MDA levels. SOD (superoxide dismutase) is an antioxidant enzyme and MDA (malondialdehyde) is parameter of oxidative stress. This would reinforce the possibility that acupuncture can be beneficial in decreasing oxidative stress and its accompanying ills including accelerated aging.

source: San Francisco Acupuncture for Longevity

Kristen Sparrow, MD; San Francisco Acupuncturist