2024-09-13 09:34:37
Obese children often become obese adults. New weight loss syringes can help break this process. Researchers have tested the active ingredient liraglutide on children – with encouraging results.
Obesity is a huge problem for many children – even more so because obese children often become obese adults. Can weight loss injections still be a solution for people under the age of 18? A study indicates that the active ingredient liraglutide works effectively and is safe in children. The effect was evaluated in six to twelve year olds.
“Until now there is no medicine for this age group to treat obesity,” said Daniel Weghuber, of the University Hospital of Salzburg, who himself was not involved in the study. For many young people who are obese, this is already when they start school. Intervention in children as early as possible is important.
Until now, the only way there is lifestyle change as part of family education, explained Weghuber, head of the University Hospital for Disorders and Adolescent Medicine. “That’s easy to say, but very hard to do.” In this respect, the use of liraglutide can be an important additional step, especially in children with severe obesity.
As with young people and adults, the question arises to what extent the substance is good and safe for long-term therapy. “This question does not only apply to children between the ages of six and twelve, but to all people who have this therapy,” said Weghober. All we know so far is that when the drug is stopped, most of those affected will gain weight again.
According to current knowledge, liraglutide must be long-term in decades. What long-term consequences this may have is unclear because this and similar drugs have not been used long enough.
Nerys Astbury from the University of Oxford – also not involved in the study – also pointed out: “Although there is no evidence that liraglutide has a negative effect on height changes, bone age or youth status, continued long-term follow-up of participants is importance and their development processes. “
Side effects as in older subjects
Martin Wabitsch from Ulm University Hospital explains that one hope is that early use of the drug will have such a significant effect that the dose can be reduced later or the drug can even be stopped completely.
Die new researchwhich has been presented in the New England Journal of Medicine, ran over a period of 56 weeks. This includes 82 obese children in the US. 56 of them received a daily injection of liraglutide (brand name “Saxenda”) and 26 received a placebo injection. All participants were also given individual advice on healthy eating and physical activity, wrote researchers led by Claudia Fox from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Body mass index (BMI) decreased by 5.8 percent in children in the liraglutide group and increased by 1.6 percent in the experimental group. In general, all children gained weight as they grew, but children in the liraglutide group only gained 1.6 percent of their initial weight and those in the placebo group gained 10 percent. The observed change in the weight of treated children corresponds to ten times the expected change in lifestyle, Weghober said.
The observed side effects are consistent with those previously observed in analyzes with young people and adults, the study continued. These often include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. About eleven percent of children who take liraglutide stop because of side effects.
Wabitsch is of the opinion that in the future the medicine will be better for children with severe obesity – “and certainly not for all children with obesity”. A small group of patients is characterized by a strong educational predisposition to obesity. It is characterized by a defect in the central process of hunger and satiety. “This is exactly where liraglutide comes in.”
Liraglutide is a so-called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. It binds to the GLP-1 receptor. This prevents, among other things, lust. The active ingredient is also approved in Europe for the treatment of diabetes and obesity for teenagers and adults.
Studies have shown that the following drugs from the same group of substances such as semaglutide (brand name “Wegovy”) and tirzepatide (“Mounjaro”) have the best effect, and they do not have to be injected daily. There are currently no studies on the tolerability and effectiveness of the two active ingredients in children.
Semaglutide and liraglutide are approved in the EU and the US from the age of twelve, explained Wabitsch, who was not involved in the presented analysis. The doctor is convinced that the current publication will lead to approval for liraglutide from the age of six. There is currently a similar study for semaglutide in children at his company in Ulm, the results of which are expected next year.
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