A new analysis suggests that children and teenagers beginning treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists face significant risks of nutritional deficiencies, prompting calls for earlier screening and proactive management.
A new analysis of US insurance claims suggests that nutritional problems are not rare among children and teenagers who begin treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists, a class of medicines increasingly used for obesity, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. The study, published in the journal Childhood Obesity and covered by multiple medical outlets, looked at 2,031 patients aged 10 to 17 and found that 10.2% had a diagnosed deficiency or related complication within six months of starting treatment, rising to 16.8% after one year.
Vitamin D deficiency was the most common issue, affecting 12.4% of patients within a year. The researchers also recorded nutritional anaemia in 1.55% of patients, iron-deficiency anaemia in 1.44% and muscle loss in 0.8%. The average patient in the study was 15 years old, and a majority were female. Liraglutide accounted for most prescriptions, followed by dulaglutide and semaglutide.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence that GLP-1 therapy can affect nutritional status, particularly because the drugs suppress appetite and reduce food intake. A separate review published earlier this year in Clinical Obesity and summarised by Harvard Medical School found similar patterns in adults, with vitamin D deficiency the most frequent problem and lower iron stores also common. While the adult and paediatric studies cannot prove that the medicines directly cause deficiencies, they point to a consistent need for closer monitoring.
Researchers involved in the youth study stressed that adolescence is a critical period for growth, bone health and pubertal development, making nutrients such as vitamin D, iron and calcium especially important. Justin Ryder, a senior author and associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said proactive nutritional management should begin when treatment starts rather than after a problem is identified. The study also found that nutrition support was uncommon: only 5.8% of patients had a nutrition visit within 30 days of starting a GLP-1 drug, and the average time to the first visit was 149 days.
The researchers cautioned that the claims-based design cannot show cause and effect, and it may miss clinical detail that laboratory testing would capture. Even so, the pattern was strong enough for the team to call for earlier counselling, routine screening and more research to determine whether GLP-1 medicines themselves contribute to deficiencies in young patients or whether the problems reflect underlying health risks and more intensive monitoring after treatment begins.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
