While you’ve likely heard about red light therapy as an effective treatment for minimizing scars, reducing wrinkles, mitigating hair loss, and enhancing muscle recovery, red light therapy for weight loss is an emerging wellness trend. But is there any evidence that suggests it can help you shed pounds?
What Is Red Light Therapy?
Also referred to as low-level laser light therapy, red light therapy is a noninvasive treatment that uses low-level light sources (usually light-emitting diodes or LEDs) to produce a reaction in the skin and superficial tissues on the cellular level. The red or near-infrared light absorbs into the skin and supercharges the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, explains board-certified family physician Natalie Kunsman, M.D.
About the Expert
Natalie Kunsman, M.D., a board certified family physician who specializes in functional, anti-aging, and regenerative medicine. She has a private functional medical practice and is also an integrated health advisor and physician at Broad Health, Hone Health’s partnered medical practice.
Red light therapy treatments are available in medical offices and spas (via saunas and panels that emit light). You can also try the therapy at home using an LED face mask or red light therapy mat. No matter which treatment you get or which device you use, it’s likely you’re getting a blast of both near-infrared light and red light. And, according to Kunsman, near-infrared light penetrates deeper into the skin and underlying tissues than red light does.
“Many times, near-infrared light is combined with red light to help assist with pain relief and deliver oxygen to the deeper tissues, including muscles, tendons, and joints, to promote healing,” she says.
We know what you’re thinking: Yes, red light therapy is safe for your skin. “Red light wavelengths do not harm the skin in the way UVA/UVB wavelengths do,” Kunsman says.
But what exactly can red light therapy do? Studies indicate that red light exposure can enhance circulation and improve cellular function and repair.
Findings from one older, small-scale study suggested that red light therapy was associated with delayed onset muscle soreness post-workout (1). A more recent study found this treatment may stimulate fibroblast production, or a type of cell involved in collagen synthesis that can treat aging skin (2).
What’s more: a 2023 review discovered the anti-inflammatory effects of red light therapy could potentially treat certain heart conditions, including heart failure (3).
Keep in mind that some at-home treatments may not produce the same power output as the devices offered in a clinic. This just means an at-home device may not be as intense, so results may take longer to see if you go this route.
Red Light Therapy For Weight Loss
Recently, scientists have conducted trials to identify a possible link between this painless, non-invasive therapy and a reduction of excess body fat. A small, randomized pilot study offers one potential theory: Laser light therapy may encourage lipolysis, a process that leads to the breakdown of fat storage within the body (4). Red light therapy may also help rev metabolism, Kunsman explains.
Results from a 2019 study revealed that participants experienced a reduction in weight, waist circumference, body mass index, and body mass fat after six weeks of two weekly red light therapy sessions. However, there were only 60 adults included in this study—and their exercise routine and dietary habits were not monitored. Plus, there was no control group, and most of the participants (90 percent) were women, so it’s unclear if men would benefit in the same way (4).
Another study, published in 2017, explored the effects of combination low-level laser wavelengths (red, infrared, and blue) in its ability to reduce abdominal girth. Each of the 18 females who participated experienced a “significant decrease” in the size of their upper, middle, and lower abdomen (5).
Other studies suggest that red light therapy for weight loss may work best when paired with exercise. One small study found that the group of obese women who walked on a treadmill wearing a near-infrared belt saw a greater reduction in abdominal circumference and fat percentage than the control group who wore a defunct belt (6).
Here’s the big caveat: The low laser light therapy that’s often used in these research studies is not the same red light therapy you’d get in a sauna or from an LED mask, she suggests. Low laser light therapy, used in the studies, consists of stronger concentrations of near-infrared light than traditional red light therapy, Kunsman notes. Which means you’re unlikely to get these results on your own.
The Bottom Line
Kunsman says even though there can be numerous advantages to using red light therapy for dermatological interventions and pain management, the jury is still out on its effectiveness as a weight loss tool.
“If red light therapy is enhancing mitochondrial metabolism and possibly targeting lipolysis, we would like to think weight loss is also possible,” she explains. “But, more studies are needed, especially for non-laser based red light therapy.”
Red light therapy should be used in conjunction with lifestyle modifications that support weight loss, such as exercise, dietary changes, and medication if needed.
