Nearly 1 in 6 Kids on GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs Develop Nutritional Deficiencies Within a Year

Almost one in six children and teens who take GLP-1 medications like Ozempic are newly diagnosed with a nutritional deficiency within a year of starting treatment, according to a study by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and others.

The findings raise concerns that doctors are not adequately monitoring the nutritional health of young patients prescribed these increasingly popular weight-loss drugs. GLP-1 medications including semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) have emerged as effective options for childhood obesity, but their long-term nutritional impact on developing bodies is understudied.

Researchers analyzed claims data from a large database of real-world patients, identifying roughly 2,000 children ages 10 to 17 who were started on a GLP-1 between 2017 and 2022 and had no preexisting nutritional deficiency. Within a year, about 17% were diagnosed with either a deficiency or a complication related to one.

The most common diagnosis was vitamin D deficiency (12%), followed by nutritional anemia (1.55%) and iron-deficiency anemia (1.44%).

"Nutritional deficiencies are a meaningful and underrecognized risk among pediatric patients receiving GLP-1RA therapy," the authors wrote in their paper.

The study is observational, meaning researchers cannot conclusively prove the drugs caused the deficiencies — but the correlation is striking enough that the researchers say doctors should keep a close eye on the nutritional health of kids prescribed these treatments. About 22% of adolescents ages 12 to 19 are obese, according to the CDC, which is why GLP-1 prescriptions for young people have been rising.

Reporting by Gizmodo. Read the original report: Nearly 1 in 6 Kids on GLP-1s Developed This Problem Within a Year.