Weight loss jabs could be highly effective on children as young as six who are obese or have type 2 diabetes, a study suggest.
The drugs significantly improved the youngsters’ blood sugar control and weight but those using them suffered common side-effects.
Researchers from the University of Florida, United States, reviewed 18 trials involving the weight loss treatments, known as GLP-1 agonists.
The family of drugs work by mimicking a hormone to reduce appetite, slow the digestion of food and lower blood sugar levels.
The studies included 1,402 children aged six to 17 and compared the effectiveness of GLP-1 agonists to placebo treatment in those who were obese, overweight, had pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Analysis revealed children taking the drugs to treat obesity lost an average of 4.72kg and saw their waistlines slim by 3.81cm.
However, researchers highlighted that ‘gastrointestinal adverse events’, which can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation, were ‘significantly more common’ among those taking the drugs than those given a placebo.
Writing in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers said: ‘GLP-1RAs were effective in improving glycemic control, weight, and cardiometabolic outcomes in children and adolescents.
Analysis revealed children taking weight loss drugs to treat obesity lost an average of 4.72kg and saw their waistlines slim by 3.81cm.
‘Suicidal ideation and behaviours and depression showed no significant differences, although gastrointestinal adverse effects remain a consideration for long-term use.’
They add that longer follow-up periods in future trials and more real-world studies are ‘essential to establish the long-term effects of GLP-1 RAs in children and adolescents’.
A number of GLP-1 agonists are available on the NHS in England – either to help manage weight or treat type 2 diabetes – although they are all recommended for adults.
The trials included in the review largely used older versions of weight loss jabs. Newer ones, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, have proven to be more effective in adults.
Previous studies found adults injected with semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, lost 14 per cent of their body weight over 72 weeks.
And those taking tirzepatide, known as Mounjaro or the ‘king kong’ of weight-loss jabs, lost 20 per cent of their body weight over the the same period.
The latest data published by the NHS shows 22.1 per cent of children in Year 6 (aged 10 to 11) in England were obese in 2023/24, down from 22.7 per cent in 2022/23.
Despite falling for the third year in a row, the figure is still higher than the years before the pandemic.
Elsewhere, the Government’s national child measurement programme, found around one in 10 children joining primary school in England were obese in 2023/24, up from 9.2 per cent in 2022/23.
Commenting on the findings, Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, said: ‘Although obesity levels are rising fastest in younger people, the present meta-analysis looks predominantly at trials with older GLP-1RAs known to give much lower weight loss than higher doses of semaglutide and tirzepatide, the two most recent licensed drugs of most interest to paediatricians.
‘There are ongoing trials with these newer agents in children with type 2 diabetes and they are clearly needed as the weight loss achieved with older medicines, as shown in this meta-analysis, is rather modest, though the reported safety reports thus far are reassuring.
‘That said, we need more safety assessments for newer medicines including impacts on growth and puberty and to consider for how long such drugs are needed.
‘It should be noted that we cannot solve childhood obesity by drugs alone – prevention by changing the obesogenic environment is the key, but incredibly hard to do as no country has really solved this issue.’
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