Weight loss jabs 'beneficial to many obese children'

Giving obese children weight loss jabs is effective and helps prevent battles around mealtimes, researchers say.

- JANE KIRBY

Experts at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga, Spain, presented findings showing the drug semaglutide (brand name Wegovy) helped severely obese youngsters shed pounds on top of the diet and lifestyle plan they were already following.

Weight loss jabs, also known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by reducing food cravings and are available on the NHS for adults with a high body mass index (BMI), or via private providers.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) stopped its appraisal of semaglutide for managing obesity in children aged 12 to 17 after the manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, said it was unable to provide an evidence submission.

However, specialist paediatric clinics can prescribe the weightloss injections if there is a proven clinical need. Side effects of the drug include nausea, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and vision problems.

Dr Annika Janson, from Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, who presented the new research, said: “GLP-1 drugs are increasingly used to treat obesity in adults.”

“They can also be used in children from the age of 12 and clinical trials have shown children lose 5-16 per cent of their body weight after a year of treatment. However, treating children in real-life situations has challenges that don’t come up in research studies,” she said.