Nearly 1 in 10 kids have used risky weight-loss products: Study

Study: 9% of youth reported using nonprescribed weight-loss products
Medications like Ozempic, Wegovy not always easy to get
Usage was more prevalent among girls than boys

Updated: Jan 12, 2024 / 06:51 AM CST

Miami Beach, Florida, Walgreens pharmacy, digestive health, Dulcolax laxative aisle. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — Nearly one in 10 adolescents have used ineffective and risky nonprescribed weight-loss products in their lifetime, according to new research.

Medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy have garnered a lot of attention over the past year, but they aren’t always easy to get. Instead, some people turn to alternatives that don’t require a doctor’s note such as berberine, a supplement that’s been dubbed “nature’s Ozempic.”

An analysis published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open shows that 9% of kids younger than 18 have used such products in their lifetime. The weight-loss products included in the study were diuretics, laxatives and diet pills.

The study years ranged from 1985 to 2023, and 73 were published after 2000. More than half (56%) were from North America and they comprised 25 countries.

Girls were more likely to use products than boys; almost one in 10 had used them not just in their lifetime but in the past year.

“This is a public health concern because correlates between use of weight-loss products have been found with girls who have a low self-esteem, parental influence to lose weight or parental dissatisfaction with weight,self-body dissatisfaction, peer groups who value thinness, and media or social media influences promoting unrealistic beauty standards,” researchers wrote.

Among youth globally, 2% had used weight-loss products in the past week, 4.4% in the past month, 6.2% in the past year and 8.9% in their lifetime.

Diet pills were most commonly used, followed by laxatives and then diuretics.

Ozempic and Wegovy shot up in popularity this past year, thanks in part to trends on social media. Users reported great success stories, but some reported major side effects.

The drugs are now beginning to be researched as a possible solution for childhood obesity.

“Given the individual and public health issues associated with adolescent use of nonprescription weight-loss products, interventions are urgently required to prevent and regulate use of weight-loss products in this population,” study researchers wrote.