From the Guardian · · 2m
Hundreds of English children prescribed weight-loss jabs
NHS data reveals 341 prescriptions for GLP-1 medications issued to under-18s in four months, including 15 for children under 12, raising questions about specialist oversight.
In brief
NHS data reveals 341 prescriptions for GLP-1 medications issued to under-18s in four months, including 15 for children under 12, raising questions about specialist oversight. Three hundred forty-one children under eighteen in England received GLP-one weight-loss prescriptions in four months, including fifteen under…
Hundreds of children on weight-loss jabs
A Guardian investigation reveals three hundred forty-one prescriptions for GLP-one medications were issued to children under eighteen in England between April and July this year.
Prescriptions issued to very young children
Of the three hundred forty-one prescriptions, fifteen were for children younger than twelve. In the full financial year two thousand twenty-five to twenty-six, ten prescriptions went to under-twelves.
What GLP-1 medications are
GLP-one medications were initially developed to help people with type two diabetes control blood sugar levels, but have become popular slimming aids. Products include Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Figures likely underestimate actual use
The NHS figures do not cover private prescriptions, prisons or hospitals. One private clinic for children has revealed it has more than two hundred patients receiving the jabs.
Childhood obesity rates rising
Ten point seven percent of reception-year children aged four and five are obese, rising to twenty-two point eight percent for children in year six aged ten and eleven.
Experts demand specialist supervision
Martin Whyte, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Surrey, says children on GLP-ones need long-term lifestyle change and specialist services with regular monitoring of growth, puberty and mental health.
“The important thing is that children who start them do so within specialist services, with support for diet, growth and wellbeing, and a plan for the long term.”
WHO warns against use in young children
Last month, new global guidelines from the World Health Organization stated obesity medications including GLP-ones should not be given to children under the age of ten.
Clinicians defend use for severe cases
Julian Hamilton-Shield, professor in diabetes at Bristol Complications CEW clinic, says GLP-one is used for children with very high excess weight who have failed standard treatments and serious comorbidities.
“These children and young people are from very complex backgrounds, have enormous lack of self-esteem. They're not attending school.”
Experts stress obesity is a condition
Dr Dunia Ismail, consultant paediatrician running a CEW clinic, says GLP-ones are given because there is nothing else available at that stage, and without treatment children face serious health consequences.
“We know now that obesity is not a choice, it's a condition.”
The bottom line
Three hundred forty-one children under eighteen in England received GLP-one weight-loss prescriptions in four months, including fifteen under twelve, prompting calls for specialist supervision and long-term monitoring.
