Clinical Research Trends of Traditional Chinese Medicine Interventions for Obesity: A Scoping Review

Objectives: This study aims to map clinical research trends in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) interventions for obesity in China over the past 5 years.Methods: A scoping review of articles published between 2021 and 2025 in PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus databases was conducted.Results: Twenty-six studies were included, predominantly randomized controlled trials (RCTs; 88.5%). Acupoint catgut embedding (12 studies) was the most frequent intervention. Studies generally reported improvements in anthropometric indices, lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance. Multi-modality approaches and modern mechanistic evaluations (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], gut microbiota) were notable trends. Among the studies that explicitly reported safety outcomes, severe adverse events were rarely observed.Conclusion: TCM, especially catgut embedding, is actively used to treat obesity in China, with a high proportion of studies adopting RCT designs. Future studies require standardized protocols and long-term follow-up to further evaluate clinical efficacy and safety.