Weight Loss Medications and Acupuncture
Recent developments in acupuncture therapy are around the symptomatic treatment of the commonly encountered side effects of chemotherapy. Approximately 3.5million people are living with cancer in the UK. It is increasingly common to see acupuncturists on oncology wards, at NHS hospitals and trusts, positively engaging with a very accessible and effective therapy which helps patients manage a range of distressing symptoms.
The development of medication to prevent the incidence of cardiovascular events by statins and obesity by GLP-1’s has revolutionised mass population healthcare but, as with most powerful drugs, there are side effects.
Can TCM help understand GLP-1’s?
I confess to being a TCM sceptic. Odd, you might think coming from a TCM-trained acupuncturist. TCM is a medical system and way of looking at the body. It’s rooted in ancient observational medicine and uses metaphor to explain concepts that are as much mystery as science. To study TCM is not just mystical but often profound.
Back to weight loss medication. It is estimated that in the UK over 2 million people use GLP-1 agonists to manage their weight. Over 3.4 million people meet the NICE criteria, yet currently only 330,000 people actually have an NHS prescription. Most GLP-1 drugs are bought privately.
Humans evolved to survive in scarcity; we live in abundant excess. In 2024, 66% of the population aged 16 and over were either overweight or living with obesity, of which 30% of adults were obese.
Some estimates of the cost of obesity to the UK are £98 billion each year (burden on the NHS, lost productivity, etc). Weight loss meds are here to stay.
As with many drugs, GLP1’s have common side effects, some serious. Those side effects are well known for many conditions where acupuncture has been shown to help to ease the discomfort.
As you might expect, these symptoms are associated with a disrupted digestive system, and viewed through the TCM lens, we get some interesting results. In TCM, the stomach is the place where food is said to ‘rot and ripen ’, from which all that lovely rotted and ripened food is converted into energy or qi.
When TCM systems are out of balance, then we expect very similar symptoms: nausea, digestive discomfort, diarrhoea or constipation.
GLP-1 medicines delay the digestion of food and reduce appetite. Food “rots and ripens” for a much longer period. In TCM terms, these symptoms have been collectively ascribed to Food stagnation.
GLP-1’s are food stagnators. No wonder eating becomes much less attractive.
Are the rapid upsides worth the cost and the discomfort? We are hardwired to eat; the global food manufacturers understand this very well. We eat crap, even when we know not to. Genes mutate; health is the casualty. Relying on behaviour change to achieve weight loss has largely proved unsustainable, and epigenetics seems to have addressed the rest.
How might acupuncture help?
Blood tests on people taking GLP-1 have shown significant reductions of pro-inflammatory markers, but there have been localised adverse effects like gallbladder inflammation (cholecystitis) or gastrointestinal irritation in some patients. We know that acupuncture has a strong relaxing effect on the central nervous system and is itself an effective anti-inflammatory.
If you are interested and want to learn more about how acupuncture may be able to help with the uncomfortable side effects of GLP-1’s, statins, or chemotherapy, please book a call with me.
References and further reading:
https://institute.global/insights/public-services/anti-obesity-medications-faster-broader-access-can-drive-health-and-wealth-in-the-uk
Side effects: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41951734/
Acupuncture treatment for obesity https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2023.1236370/full
NHS Plan for Cancer Care in the UK https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan/shaping-the-national-cancer-plan