Diabetes is one of the major health problems in UAE and affects 25% of all residents. Experts estimate that 90% of them develop type 2 Diabetes (non-insulin dependent) later on, caused by lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. Beside Nationals, Asians and Arab Expats are also in great risk due their inactive and often sedentary lifestyle.

Despite the major medical advances in rapid and easy monitoring of blood sugar and drug treatments, Diabetes remains a serious problem. The blood sugar regulation that can be attained by standard methods is usually not adequate in avoiding common secondary effects of Diabetes, including cardiovascular diseases, degenerative eye conditions, limb pain, ulceration, gangrene, and kidney failure.

A recent study conducted by Dubai Wellbeing Center led by 17 experts showed that acupuncture and Chinese treatments are a better alternative than existing treatments and have no side effects. Doctor Li Dong, head of diabetic treatment & research at "Cha-slu", Dubai Wellbeing Center said: "Many assume that acupuncture is only suitable for treating pain, perhaps because the initial introduction of acupuncture to the west in 1972 was with flashy stories about analgesia provided by acupuncture during surgery. However 1 out of 3 patients coming in to our center has Diabetes. After attending a seminar in New York about the diabetics and seeing that some American Chinese doctors have succeeded in treatment, I wanted to conduct the study in UAE. The results are excellent and we have started working closely with western doctors now to treat the patients with these new techniques.

"Clinical and Experimental Study in Treating Diabetes Mellitus by Acupuncture IN UAE" will be presented next year in Beijing to more than thousand delegates from all over the world. The study, led by Dr. Li and 16 other doctors from UAE, studied 60 diabetic patients from the UAE. Experts divided them randomly into two groups: the acupuncture group (38 patients) and the control group (22 patients). Both groups followed a regulated diet during the study, but one group received acupuncture at three points. The treatment was administered once a day for 30 days.

Among the 22 participants who took usual Diabetes-prescribed drugs, there were 12 cases rated as effectively treated and 8 cases as markedly effective. However 20 of them showed serious side effects such as kidney malfunction. On the acupuncture group 27 patients were treated successful and 11 needed more treatment. However none of the 38 patients showed any side effect.

Hana Sharabi is one of the Arab-American expat in UAE who suffers from the disease. She has been prescribed modern medicine which caused her serious kidney conditions prompting her to stop the treatment. Doctors could not give other medicines and they told her to change her lifestyle. She did, eating healthy and going to the gym every day with no change in her Diabetes. On the contrary she developed high cholesterol, like 90% of diabetics as their liver (a major organ which balances the cholesterol) does not function well. One of her friends told her about Chinese treatments now available in UAE for treating the disease. After 6 months of treatment called "Xang Duong" in Dubai Wellbeing Center, Hana's Diabetes was gone, much to the surprise of her doctors.

Hana says, "My doctor who told me that she can't believe that without any western medicine my insulin level was back to normal and I was healthy. She started to send more patients for the treatment."

Dubai Wellbeing Center is the only center with research facilities on alternative treatments in GCC with experts specializing in losing weight, pain management, Diabetes and depression.