Children as young as six should be given weekly weight loss jabs to tackle childhood obesity and help avert the type-2 diabetes crisis engulfing the UK, a top expert says.
It comes after Diabetes UK revealed poor diets have fuelled a 39 per cent spike in the condition among the under-40s over the last seven years.
Giving obese children semaglutide – also known as Ozempic and Wegovy – could reduce their chances of suffering the condition by up to 90 per cent, studies show.
Given via self-injection once a week the drug controls blood sugar and helps patients lose weight by suppressing the appetite.
Leading obesity and diabetes researcher Professor Carel Le Roux said: ‘It’s a good option to treat children with the disease of obesity and as young as six, absolutely.
Studies have shown adults taking semaglutide can lose enough weight around their organs to reduce their risk of diabetes by 90 per cent, or even put existing cases into remission.
And a ‘mind-blowing’ international trial involving children as young as 12 showed the same results held true in younger patients.
When dietary interventions have failed, children should be offered semaglutide treatment, say experts
‘The objective is health gain, not weight loss. If you have a six-year-old who has apnoea and mobility problems and you treat them to improve their health, it’s the right thing to do.
‘If they do not have complications of obesity, then it might not be.’
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, which makes the popular semaglutide jabs branded as Ozempic and Wegovy, has already announced a global trial on children, including in the UK.
Studies have shown adults taking semaglutide can lose enough weight to reduce their risk of diabetes by 90 per cent, or even put existing cases into remission.
And a ‘mind-blowing’ international trial involving children as young as 12 showed the same results held true in younger patients.
Professor Le Roux said giving the drug to children could help slash the number of cases of diabetes among young people.
‘I would like everyone in the world to run around more and have a healthier diet. But running around and eating healthily doesn’t treat the disease of obesity, and we need to be clear on that.’
‘We have rare conditions such a familial hypercholesterolaemia, where children are born with high cholesterol and develop heart attacks in their 20s or 30s.
‘We can determine the risk almost from birth, so there is the question about when to start [cholesterol lowering] medication to reduce their risk.
‘We should look at this in the same way. We put obesity in the same box as all other childhood diseases, it’s no different.
‘We treat it like any other disease, so we are thinking how to make patients healthier, and when do the benefits of treatment outweigh the risks. That’s what we have to do – forget about weight and focus on health.’
He added that evidence suggests obesity relapses as soon as patients stop taking semaglutide, so they should be prepared to take it for the rest of their lives.
But Professor Barbara McGowan, a diabetes expert based at King’s College London, said she would be reluctant to give semaglutide to children before all other options had been exhausted.
‘Just giving pharmacotherapy to children is not the solution. But it can be part of an intervention for some children.
‘We’ve got an obesity epidemic, and obesity and type 2 diabetes go hand-in-hand.
‘We need much wider changes at a system level. We need to change the environment – to address the food industry, advertising, fast food outlets, portion sizes, and so on. It’s a very complex situation.
‘We need to educate at school. We need to educate healthcare professionals, as well as parents and the rest of the population.
‘For the children who are really struggling, where all the lifestyle interventions have been exhausted, then semaglutide can be another weapon in the armoury to help treat them.
Researchers outlined several unintended detrimental consequences that could arise in children who take weight-loss drugs
Over a million children had their height and weight measured under the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Nationally, the rate among children in Year 6 stands at over a third, despite having fallen slightly since Covid began
Among Year 6 pupils, national obesity fell from 23.4 per cent in 2021/22 to 22.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of children deemed either overweight or obese also dipped, from 37.8 per cent to 36.6. Both measures are above pre-pandemic levels
‘But it needs to be part of a multi-faceted approach. It’s not a magic bullet. But there will be children who are struggling, and this will hopefully help.
‘These medications help with both improving diabetes, but also acting on those centres of the brain which affect appetite. You can switch off cravings and help address the diet so they’re more likely to eat healthy foods.
‘Intervening early can help to prevent many of the complications, which cost a lot of money when it comes to treating type 2 diabetes.’
The NHS said current semaglutide medications like Wegovy are not licensed for children younger than 12, and the Government’s drug rationing body NICE does not currently provide funding for people younger than 17.
Children can still technically get semaglutide in the UK, because clinicians can prescribe it to kids because on the basis of the drug already being approved for use in adults, a practice standard for numerous medications.
NHS clinicians can, in theory, give it to kids because the drug is already approved for use in adults, a practice standard for numerous medications.
The US and the EU have already approved the drug for use in fat children aged 12 and above in limited circumstances.
However, the NHS medications watchdog The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said it was unable to make a recommendation regarding Wegovy in children in June, citing a lacking of evidence from Novo Nordisk.
Latest childhood obesity data for England shows one in 10 children are too fat by the time they start primary school, rising to about one in four among Year 6.
Obesity also takes a massive financial toll in the UK, with the resulting health consequences on loss working years, care costs, and price of NHS treatment costing the economy an estimated £100billion per year.
Experts have pointed to a lack of exercise, and poor diets high in ultra-processed food, as being key drivers in the UK’s childhood obesity epidemic.
WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?
Meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain, according to the NHS
• Eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruit and vegetables count
• Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain
• 30 grams of fibre a day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, 2 whole-wheat cereal biscuits, 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread and large baked potato with the skin on
• Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) choosing lower fat and lower sugar options
• Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish every week, one of which should be oily)
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consuming in small amounts
• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water a day
• Adults should have less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men a day
Source: NHS Eatwell Guide
Wow superb blog layout How long have you been blogging for you make blogging look easy The overall look of your site is magnificent as well as the content