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.