otherwise active teenager<\/a> couldn\u2019t stop thinking about food.<\/p>\nThe teenager, who plays various sports, had struggled with compulsive thoughts about food for years despite nutrition counseling, endocrinology visits and extensive blood work. <\/p>\n
As puberty progressed, she also hadn\u2019t begun menstruating, raising concerns about possible PCOS and underlying metabolic dysfunction.<\/p>\n
A refrigerator is filled with both healthy and junk food. Moment Editorial\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
At 5\u20193\u2033 and 171 pounds, her mother noticed her weight starting to balloon at 9-years-old when her daughter was being homeschooled during COVID.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever they were stuck at home and not in the regimen of school, there was this major focus on food,\u201d Angela told The Post. \u201cWhat\u2019s my next food? My next meal? This constant obsession with snacking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like any parent, she gave her daughter room to be herself. Still, the preoccupation with food became alarming when she would eat snacks in her room late at night, followed by bullying and self-esteem issues so profound it impacted her desire to go to homecoming and wear a dress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really trying to get to the root cause,\u201d Angela told The Post.<\/p>\n
Six weeks after starting Wegovy, Angela says the biggest change hasn\u2019t been weight loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t thinking about food as much,\u201d adding that she too has always struggled with extra weight and had found success on her own GLP-1 journey, losing 30 pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this can help jump-start healthier habits now, I\u2019m for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Angela is adamant about keeping her daughter\u2019s treatment private because of previous bullying she experienced for being overweight.<\/p>\n
The backlash begins<\/strong><\/p>\nBut as pediatric GLP-1 use has expanded, so too has the backlash.<\/p>\n
The debate has spilled onto social media, where parents are accused of taking shortcuts, fueling diet culture or medicating children for cosmetic reasons.<\/p>\n
Even Ceriani has experienced it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get what people are saying: \u2018You don\u2019t know [the side effects]. \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to a lot of parents because most of the kids are tiny \u2014 I wish I had more people to talk to about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ceriani told The Post she\u2019s aware there\u2019s a stigma around young GLP-1 use but is sure \u201cwe\u2019re not the only family doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trepekli, who runs the obesity clinic, defended the families who come to her, and her own practice, insisting that the families who arrive at her clinic have already tried nutritionists, sports programs, counseling and lifestyle changes before turning to medication.<\/p>\n
Anonymous comments on Hey Nouri posts from a pediatric obesity clinic discuss GLP-1s for kids.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200bYou never tell a child with asthma, \u2018Hey, just breathe better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a big perception that kids will just grow out of it, but we know that that\u2019s actually not what happens. Approximately 80% of these kids actually grow into obesity, not just obesity, but also all the comorbidities that exist around it,\u201d she said, adding that mental health is also extremely overlooked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the weight loss, there is more confidence. They finally feel like they\u2019re successful in something they\u2019ve been maybe trying to do and have tried and failed,\u201d Trepekli said, adding that many of their patients report feeling more confident in their clothes and being around their friends.<\/p>\n
Anonymous comments on Hey Nouri posts regarding GLP-1s for kids are shown.<\/p>\n
The unknowns<\/strong><\/p>\nDespite the positive lifestyle effects, many physicians do not share Trepekli\u2019s enthusiasm for the concept of GLP-1\u2019s for children \u2014\u00a0among them health care professionals who happily prescribe the drugs for their adult patients. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a much more vulnerable population,\u201d Dr. Amanda Kahn, a longevity medicine doctor who regularly suggests the drugs to her adult patients, said to The Post. \u201cWe don\u2019t fully understand the long-term effects of these medications when you\u2019re putting them in a system where hormones and biology are changing drastically over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kahn says that while the reasons parents give are valid, she worries particularly about the drugs\u2019 studied effects on the dopamine and reward pathways, especially in developing brains. Early data shows that GLP-1 generally has positive effects in adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it affects the reward pathway. So people don\u2019t smoke as much, they don\u2019t drink as much alcohol. Is it flattening a child\u2019s affect? That would be something I would watch out for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren face a lot of the same kind of social pressures: they should be a certain weight and look a certain way, and I imagine that\u2019s particularly amplified when they\u2019re going through puberty and the focus on your body becomes really, you know, front and center,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Beyond the scale<\/strong><\/p>\nDespite the concerns, the parents that spoke with The Post explained that putting their children on the drugs has been a life-changing experience.<\/p>\n
Ceriani recalled being so relieved to find Dr. Trepekli and Hey Nouri \u2014 she cried \u201ctears of joy.\u201d <\/p>\n
After nearly two months on Wegovy, she said her son\u2019s choices and behavior are improving. She has even been able to get him off ADD medication.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is starting to be aware of the difference between boredom and true hunger. He\u2019s eating less, and he actually said \u2018I am full\u2019 one night,\u201d Ceriani said, adding that although she hasn\u2019t had many parents to confide in, she would encourage them to try it if their child was struggling.<\/p>\n
And in Pennsylvania, Angela shares a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to ensure that the confidence outside matches what\u2019s on the inside,\u201d she said of her daughter. \u201cIf this can help her jump-start these habits \u2014\u00a0then I\u2019m for it for any child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know every long-term answer,\u201d Angela admitted. \u201cBut we also know what happens if we don\u2019t treat obesity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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