![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wpdash.medianewsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/TOS-Z-ozempic-1.jpg\")
<\/a>When my 14-year-old middle-schooler was prescribed Ozempic<\/a> in February to manage her weight \u2014 which, despite myriad interventions, continued to climb \u2014 visions of svelte sugarplums danced in my head. The pounds would melt away! By the time she started high school in August, she\u2019d be down 30 or 40, hitting that perfectly normal, average, boring body mass index, ready to start freshman year truly fresh!<\/p>\nReality check. There are no miracles. But there is definitely progress.<\/p>\n
After seven months of this absurdly expensive drug (more than $700 out of pocket every month), Little has lost 20 pounds \u2014 a solid 11% of her body weight. That\u2019s a significant achievement!<\/p>\n
But \u2014 there\u2019s always a but \u2014 she\u2019ll have to drop another 25 or so to dip below a BMI of 85 (above which one is considered overweight). According to my rough calculations, that could take another 6 or 7 months, and cost another $4,500-$5,000.<\/p>\n
Alas, we\u2019re in it for the long haul. Little is into it. Ozempic has calmed the \u201cfood noise\u201d in her head. She doesn\u2019t forage and stuff herself. The progress has boosted her confidence \u2014 and inspired her to take the new high school fitness class (serious gym workouts three times a week, under the exacting eye of the PE teacher) far more seriously than she took the (too-gentle) private trainer at the Y.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s actually asked to go to the Y on non-PE days. Who is this child?<\/p>\n Risk or no risk?<\/p>\n These drugs work by activating GLP-1 receptors in the brain that regulate appetite, reducing hunger and increasing feelings of fullness.<\/p>\n Is there risk?<\/p>\n Some doctors are pretty sure there isn\u2019t. These drugs have been used for years in adults with little to no issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen young patients with obesity use these medications and experience effective weight loss, it has a significant impact on their lives,\u201d said Dr. Vibha Singhal, director of pediatric obesity at UCLA Mattel Children\u2019s Hospital, in a recent Q&<\/a>A.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are healthier, can move more quickly, are more motivated to make healthy lifestyle changes (as they see results), prevent some chronic diseases, and overall are more confident. The current data suggests that once we stop the medications, the weight gradually comes back \u2014 so, yes, right now, we feel that these are long-term medications \u2014 just like you would take medications for other chronic diseases like hypothyroidism and diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n Are there long-term health implications?<\/p>\n \u201cThese medications are relatively new to young people, so our knowledge of their long-term implications is limited,\u201d Singhal said. \u201cStudies have a 1-2 year follow-up, which is reassuring. There is good weight loss, including fat and lean mass. So, when used properly with accompanying lifestyle changes, these medications produce good results and improve metabolic health\u2026.We know of no unique health risks associated with these medications in adolescents compared to adults.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent study in the journal Cell Metabolism<\/a> found that GLP-1 drugs may be linked to enhanced brain health, perhaps by reducing the chronic low-grade inflammation often associated with obesity that contributes to neurodegenerative diseases.<\/p>\n Other doctors, however, aren\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is the long term effect of a drug occupying major receptors in the brain as the brain is developing?\u201d asked Dr. Dan Cooper, a pediatrician and professor at UCI Health. \u201cWhat\u2019s the long term consequence? I think this is a really important point. We don\u2019t know. We haven\u2019t done the right study in children yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Depression and suicidal ideation don\u2019t seem to be an issue<\/a>, studies suggest. But the drugs are \u201canti-hedonic\u201d \u2014 which is to say, they reduce the pleasure people get from eating. They\u2019re behavioral drugs, psychiatric drugs \u2014 which is why they work, Cooper said. But do they tamp down more than just appetite? Do they reduce the pleasure patients take in other things? Do they induce lethargy? We don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n And unlike adults, children and adolescents expend energy not only on physical activity, but also on growth and development. The caloric deficits that lead to weight loss could sacrifice muscle, not just fat. Cooper and colleagues worry about the drugs\u2019 effect bone formation<\/a>, too. \u201cWe know that if you don\u2019t have sufficient bone mineralization between age 11 and your mid-20s, it\u2019s extremely hard to add new bone mineral,\u201d he\u00a0recently told the Wall Street Journal<\/a>. \u201cDuring that critical period the things that will determine your bone mineralization are nutrition and exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n That, of course, could impact the risk of osteoporosis and fractures much later in life.<\/p>\n \u201cI remain very concerned,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cAnyone who says with certainty that potential long term effects of these drugs in children or adolescents does not understand the power of these medications and their potential for altering growth and development of behavior, metabolism and physiology. We have no idea what these medications do to brain development as some of the highest density of the receptors are in areas of the brain that regulate pleasure sensations.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper said he\u2019s not a therapeutic nihilist. There\u2019s no question that these meds can be helpful for some adolescents. But we already have gobs of data showing that healthy weight can be achieved without drugs \u2014 through intensive, meaningful physical activity and lifestyle interventions.<\/p>\n A study in prediabetics found that this kind of change was more effective at staving off Type 2 Diabetes than the commonly-prescribed drug metformin. \u201cWhy do a drug when you don\u2019t have to do a drug?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n GLP-1 drugs now are also extremely expensive; a personal trainer might actually cost less.<\/p>\n And this gives a parent pause: More than a third of the experts who helped develop the\u00a0American Academy of Pediatrics new guidelines on obesity in children<\/a> had undisclosed financial ties to obesity drugmakers, a recent paper in the journal BMJ found.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to see a couple of papers not funded by the drug companies making these medicines,\u201d Cooper said. Maybe we\u2019d get same results. And maybe not.<\/p>\n Cooper and colleagues have called for national studies examining the long term effects with up-to-date biomedical concepts and protocols. \u201cI would like to be proven wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cProve me wrong. Show me the data. Then we can all rest at ease.\u201d<\/p>\n Exponential growth<\/p>\n Many thousands aren\u2019t waiting for answers.<\/p>\n Rounding up definitive numbers on how many adolescents are taking GLP-1 drugs isn\u2019t as easy as one might imagine. Little, for example, is prescribed Ozempic off-label (it\u2019s a diabetes drug; its Wegovy incarnation is the version officially used for weight loss), so she probably wouldn\u2019t show up in stats. Not to mention that the stats are old; reporting lags are the bane of a journalist\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n With those caveats, though, the numbers clearly show that Little is not alone in this journey. Between 2020 and 2023, the number of adolescents and young adults prescribed these drugs leapt nearly 600%, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s more than 60,000 kids, and prescribing has grown exponentially over the past couple of years.<\/p>\n The long haul that Little has committed to could be quite long. Studies have shown that, upon stopping the drug, appetites return and folks regain weight. Her doctor told her that lower \u201cmaintenance\u201d doses might be needed after she hits her goal weight \u2026 for who knows how long.<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sut-z-kettle-1.jpg\")
<\/a>(Adobe Stock)<\/p>\n![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sut-z-obesity-1-e1739388380950.jpg\")
<\/a>More than 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese (Adobe Stock)<\/p>\n![\"(Getty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-94286106.jpg\")
<\/a>(Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"JAMA\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/jama-glp-1-drug-chart.jpg\")
<\/a>From “Dispensing of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists to Adolescents and Young Adults, 2020-2023,” JAMA, published online May 22, 2024<\/p>\n
![\"Racheal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-Z-FITNESSSTEROIDS-0408-07.jpg\")
<\/a>Racheal Belen clutches a 40-pound dumbbell. (Roger Kisby \/ The New York Times)<\/p>\n