Are we really going to drug children not to be so fat? : Low-Carb War Zone Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#1 ^

Wed, Jun-19-24, 23:19

Demi

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Are we really going to drug children not to be so fat?

Quote:

Are we really going to drug children not to be so fat?

Rather than trying to change our woeful food system, we may soon let kids inject their way out of trouble. It could bankrupt the NHS

In 1904, the brusquely named Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration published a damning report on the health of the British nation. The recent Boer War, it was generally agreed, could have been won much more quickly if Britain’s soldiers hadn’t been shockingly small and weak compared with the Dutch settlers they were fighting in South Africa. Indeed, the Army had been forced to turn away up to 60 per cent of would-be recruits because they were in such poor physical condition.

The committee identified various factors behind this national enfeeblement, including industrial pollution, alcoholism and the “incurable laziness” of the British housewife – but above all, diet. The working classes were living off tea, white bread and jam, and this was stunting their children. In 1904, boys at public schools were five inches (or 12.7cm) taller than those at free schools for the poor.

More than a century on, plus ça change. A report by the Food Foundation has warned that Britain’s children are once again shrinking because of bad food. The average height of a five-year-old in this country, which had risen steadily until 2013, is now on a steep downward trajectory. Our five-year-olds are among the shortest in the developed world – 7cm smaller than their Dutch peers.

The cheap, ultra-processed food that makes up around 60 per cent of the British diet has the paradoxical quality that it can make you both undernourished and overweight. Childhood obesity has increased by 30 per cent since 2006, with one in five now obese by the time they leave primary school. Cases of Type 2 diabetes among the young have increased by 22 per cent in just five years.

Childhood ill-health on this scale is creating (along with much personal suffering) a fiscal tsunami. Around 80 per cent of obese teenagers will remain obese for the rest of their life, massively increasing their susceptibility to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, muscular-skeletal problems and even depression. All of which then has to be treated by our overstretched health services. And of course, ill people can’t work, so that means ever-declining productivity and tax receipts. We will keep getting sicker, and less able to afford this sickness.

Successive governments have stood on the metaphorical beach watching this incoming disaster grow bigger and closer, and done nothing. They are afraid to intervene in our malfunctioning food system, in case they are accused of nanny-statism. (Unlike Lord Balfour, who introduced all manner of state interventions to improve the nation’s health, including free school meals for the poor.)

Some politicians are clearly hoping that the new generation of weight-loss drugs will save the day. Rather than going to the bother and controversy of changing the food system, why not let individuals inject their way out of trouble? It’s certainly true that drugs such as Wegovy can be a life-saver for adults who have failed to lose weight in other ways. But it’s expensive (about £175 a month), the side-effects are still unclear, and you may have to stay on it for life if you want to keep the weight off.

Almost 40 per cent of children in this country are overweight. Putting them all on weight-loss drugs would be an unprecedented social and medical experiment. It could also bankrupt the NHS. But that is where political inertia will lead us: to a food system so toxic that even our children have to self-medicate to survive it.

Jemima Lewis is the co-author, with Henry Dimbleby, of Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet into Shape

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...t-to-be-so-fat/

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#2 ^

Thu, Jun-20-24, 04:05

Dodger Dodger is offline

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It's a shame that Big Food and Big Pharma have so much power over the decision-makers. It would be great if people looked back to see what changed from when obesity was not a problem to what happens now.
Factory foods do not make anyone healthy.

#3 ^

Wed, Sep-11-24, 06:34

Calianna

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Quote:

Weight-loss drug Saxenda effective for kids as young as 6, study shows

A drug approved to treat obesity in adults and teens is safe and effective for use in kids as young as 6 when combined with diet and exercise, a small new study shows.

Liraglutide lowered body mass, slowed weight gain and improved health markers in kids ages 6 through 11, according to research presented Tuesday at a medical conference and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Based on the results of the trial, drugmaker Novo Nordisk has asked U.S. regulators to expand use of the medication for kids in that age group, a company spokesperson said Tuesday. If approved, the drug would be the first authorized to treat the most common type of obesity that affects more than 20% of U.S. kids ages 6 through 11, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“To date, children have had virtually no options for treating obesity,” said Dr. Claudia Fox, a pediatric obesity expert at the University of Minnesota who led the study. “They have been told to ‘try harder’ with diet and exercise."

Side effects were common among those given the drug, particularly gastrointestinal effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. And experts said doctors and parents would need to carefully consider those risks and the lack of data about the long-term use of such drugs in young kids.

“Having a medication for that age group, if approved, would be a really nice tool to have, but we're also going to have to be careful about how widely we start using it," said Dr. Melissa Crocker, a pediatric obesity specialist at Boston Children's Hospital who wasn't involved in the study. “And I would answer that differently at 6 than I would at 11.”

Liraglutide is in a class of so-called GLP-1 drugs that include blockbuster medications like Wegovy and Mounjaro. The medications mimic hormones that affect appetite, feelings of fullness and digestion. It’s taken as a daily injection and is approved under the brand name Victoza to treat diabetes in adults and children ages 10 and older and as Saxenda to treat obesity in adults and children ages 12 to 17.

The new study, paid for by Novo Nordisk, included 82 children with a mean age of 10 and a baseline weight of about 155 pounds (70 kilograms). The average starting BMI was 31, above the threshold for childhood obesity. More than half the children had obesity-related health problems such as insulin resistance, asthma or early puberty. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid.

In the trial, 56 children received daily injections of up to 3 milligrams of liraglutide for nearly 13 months, while 26 got dummy medications. The kids were followed for six months afterward.

All the children received individual counseling to help them follow a plan that called for a healthy diet and 60 minutes a day of moderate to high-intensity exercise.

Researchers found that kids who took the drug for more than a year reduced their body mass index -- a measure of height and weight that can account for a child’s natural growth – by 5.8%. Children who received the dummy medication saw their BMI increase by 1.6%.

At the same time, children who received the drug slowed weight gain to 1.6% of their body weight during that period, compared with a 10% gain for those who got sham drugs.

The study found that 46% of kids who got the drug lowered their BMI by at least 5%, an amount that has been linked to improvements in health problems tied to obesity. In kids who received placebo, 9% met that mark. Lower measures of blood pressure and blood sugar were detected in children who received the drug, researchers noted.

Side effects, mostly mild to moderate, were reported in nearly 90% of both groups of participants. Gastrointestinal side effects including nausea and vomiting were reported in 80% of kids who received the drug, compared with 54% who received sham medications. Serious side effects were reported in seven children using liraglutide and two who took placebo. Six participants taking the drug left the trial because of the side effects, while no one taking placebo stopped treatment.

In the six-month follow-up, children in both groups who stopped treatment increased BMI and gained weight, the study found. The trial has been extended to include more treatment and follow up, with results expected in 2027.

Fox receives research funding from Novo Nordisk and drugmaker Eli Lilly paid directly to her institution. Those companies are also conducting trials with more powerful weekly injections of Novo's Wegovy and Lilly's Zepbound in kids as young as 6.

Dr. Alaina Vidmar, a pediatric obesity specialist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles who wasn't involved in the new study, said she has used liraglutide off-label to treat young kids and would welcome approval of the drug to increase flexibility and access.

The drug treats the underlying physiology of obesity, which is a complex, chronic disease that can occur at any age. Early use can prevent obesity and life-threatening health problems from extending into the teen years — and adulthood.

“We want these kids to have long, healthy lives,” Vidmar said. “The sooner that we can start, the more likely we can stop them from getting early onset diabetes, early onset heart disease, sleep apnea, all of those things. Doing nothing is not the right answer.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weig...ml?guccounter=1

#4 ^

Wed, Sep-11-24, 06:56

Calianna

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So... the answer to the question posed in this thread:

Quote:

Are we really going to drug children not to be so fat?

Apparently the answer is yes.

Quote:

In the trial, 56 children received daily injections of up to 3 milligrams of liraglutide for nearly 13 months, while 26 got dummy medications. The kids were followed for six months afterward.

Quote:

Side effects were common among those given the drug, particularly gastrointestinal effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. And experts said doctors and parents would need to carefully consider those risks and the lack of data about the long-term use of such drugs in young kids.

I feel really bad for those kids - a shot every single day for 13 months (how many of us hated getting even one shot every year as kids?). Plus they had nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Makes me wonder how much the gastro side effects had to do with them losing weight, as opposed to how much weight loss was due to the GLP-1 appetite suppression.

Quote:

In the six-month follow-up, children in both groups who stopped treatment increased BMI and gained weight, the study found. The trial has been extended to include more treatment and follow up, with results expected in 2027.

So it will very likely be a lifetime of taking drugs to keep the weight off, rather than actually changing their diet.

Quote:

All the children received individual counseling to help them follow a plan that called for a healthy diet and 60 minutes a day of moderate to high-intensity exercise.

Need we even ask what they considered to be a healthy diet for these kids?

I'm pretty sure we already know they were told to fill up on lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, while consuming as little fat as possible, and being allowed only pitiful amounts of protein.

#5 ^

Wed, Sep-11-24, 07:59

cotonpal

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This horrifies me.

#6 ^

Wed, Sep-11-24, 11:47

Bob-a-rama Bob-a-rama is offline

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The way corporate greed is killing the planet, I guess it doesn't matter.

Children today will see the world warm to the point where the crops fail, and may see the end of humanity itself.

We know what we do, but the logarithmic growth of profits of the huge corporations will not cease.

Some scientists predict that the tipping point is less than 30 years in the future. The point where the heat on the planet starts feeding the heat and even if we quit all greenhouse gasses, it will keep heating itself until it's too hot for human life, and it won't stop there.

I'm glad I'm as old as I am, as I'm not predicted to live another 30 years.

#7 ^

Wed, Sep-11-24, 13:41

Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline

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Quote:

Originally Posted by cotonpal

This horrifies me.

ME, TOO !!!!!!!!

I learned about DANDR before having children. My goal for them was real food, not chips, not popcorn. Eat when hungry. No need to finish your food. (Dog will happily clean your plate. &#128513

No candy. No snack foods.

Plenty of apples, cheese sticks, homemade meals and left over dinner for breakfast.

Both my boys are "thin" by todays standards but their pediatrician is happy with their weight. Both are rippling in muscle. And pinch kess than half an inch.

Both work physical jobs at this time. I expect my oldest to pursue a desk job but he loves the work around the farm. At university, other students thought he was studying Ag, when it was actually IT. IT requires desk time.

What we feed our children matters. Homemade is EASY. Bake 8 chicken thighs. Heat up frozen veggies. Bake potatoes in thd microwave. Real food.

I pester them about food choices out in the big bad world. Ya, they now have junk food, but I keep up the pressure and make meals to help facilitate healthy eating. Lots of meat and veg. Some pasta. No bread. Some rice.

And no weight loss drugs.

#8 ^

Wed, Sep-11-24, 23:52

Demi

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Quote:

Obese children as young as six could receive weight-loss jabs

Possibility of Ozempic-style injections being made available for young people on NHS opens up after trial shows ‘promising’ results

Obese children as young as six could receive Ozempic-style weight-loss jabs after a “promising” first trial.

Slimming injections were found to lower children’s body mass index (BMI) by 7.4 per cent in the study to assess the benefits of the drugs on primary school children.

During the research, pupils aged between six and 12 with an average weight of just over 11 stone, or 70kg, took a 56-week course of the daily weight-loss jab liraglutide.

The drug is one of a class of treatments known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, which are already available on the NHS to treat adults with Type 2 diabetes or obesity.

Obese children as young as six could receive Ozempic-style weight-loss jabs after a “promising” first trial.

Slimming injections were found to lower children’s body mass index (BMI) by 7.4 per cent in the study to assess the benefits of the drugs on primary school children.

During the research, pupils aged between six and 12 with an average weight of just over 11 stone, or 70kg, took a 56-week course of the daily weight-loss jab liraglutide.

The drug is one of a class of treatments known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, which are already available on the NHS to treat adults with Type 2 diabetes or obesity.

It works in the same way as semaglutide, which is found in Ozempic and Wegovy, by mimicking the function of a hormone to make people feel fuller and reduce their appetite.

The trial, conducted by experts at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, involved 82 children defined as clinically obese with an average age of 10 and a BMI of 31.

Some 56 of the subjects took liraglutide and 26 received a placebo, while both were given individual diet advice and encouraged to exercise for at least 60 minutes a day.

After more than a year, the average BMI of the children who received the weight-loss jabs fell by 5.8 per cent – but increased by 1.6 per cent for those who were given the placebo, a difference of 7.4 per cent.

The children’s body weight grew by an average of 1.6 per cent for those who received liraglutide, compared with 10 per cent for those given the placebo.

The researchers said they expected some weight gain over the year as the children grew.

‘Considerable promise’

The findings open up the possibility that weight-loss injections could be made available to NHS patients in the future.

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk manufactures both semaglutide and liraglutide, and is already seeking regulatory approval for the jabs to be prescribed to obese teenagers.

Other trials in children aged as young as six are also under way, including in the UK.

Prof Claudia Fox, the study’s lead author from the University of Minnesota’s Centre for Pediatric Obesity Medicine, said if childhood obesity was left untreated it “almost universally persists into adulthood and is associated with significant ill health, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and, for some, premature death”.

There is currently no medical treatment for paediatric obesity beyond lifestyle advice.

Prof Fox said there was no consensus on what a meaningful reduction in BMI amounted to, but that 5 per cent or more had previously been associated with improving some obesity-related illnesses.

In the trial, almost half of the children on liraglutide saw their BMI reduce by at least five per cent, compared to fewer than one in 10 of those who took the placebo.

Researchers reported similar side effects to those seen in older cohorts, including gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, some of which were deemed “serious” in nature.

Both groups of children saw their BMI and body weight increase once the trial had ended.

Prof Fox said the findings “offer considerable promise to children living with obesity” who are currently told “to ‘try harder’ with diet and exercise”.

‘Risk of negative consequences’

Dr Simon Cork, a senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University, said giving the drugs to children was “complicated by the fact that children are actively growing, and therefore there is a possibility for greater risk, particularly with regards to appetite suppression, since such medication has the potential to stunt growth.”

He said more studies would be needed “to ensure that appetite suppression in these children does not have unforeseen negative consequences”.

The findings were presented to the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The results of the first study into new weight-loss pills were also presented at EASD’s annual meeting.

Amycretin, also developed by Novo Nordisk, has a two-pronged approach as it is both a GLP-1 and amylin, so mimics two separate hormones involved in appetite regulation.

The 12-week trial in adults found it reduced body weight by between 10.4 per cent and 13.1 per cent, depending on dose, compared to just 1.1 per cent for those who received placebo pills.

The researchers said more studies were needed to test its safety and effectiveness over a longer period.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...oss-jabs-trial/

From the poll featured in the article:

Quote:

Should children be administered Ozempic-style jabs to help tackle obesity?

Yes, childhood obesity needs tackling urgently 24%

No, children should be educated on how to make healthy lifestlye choices 76%

#9 ^

Thu, Sep-12-24, 07:44

Calianna

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Quote:

Should children be administered Ozempic-style jabs to help tackle obesity?

Yes, childhood obesity needs tackling urgently 24%

No, children should be educated on how to make healthy lifestlye choices 76%

The way the two choices are worded makes it sound like there really are only 2 choices:

1) Drug the kids thin

OR

2) Make the kids feel guilty that they just keep gaining weight on what they're told to eat (low fat, high carb, minimal protein), because it just makes them more hungry and less energetic.

Why not start by figuring out what it is about the kids current diet that has them so lacking in energy that they need to be encouraged to exercise 1 hour daily?

If they're being chosen for a drug trial, surely they've looked into what the kids are eating on a regular basis. And at that age, what they're eating is almost entirely up to their parents and other adults in their lives, not the kids.

It's not that difficult to test what their current diet is doing to their blood sugar and insulin levels over the course of several hours. A glucose tolerance test (or for that matter finger pricks every hour) can tell you a lot about how your body handles blood sugar - that could be the very issue that's causing them to feel hungry all the time (and if the GLP-1 is helping then, it undoubtedly has something to do with blood sugar - which goes back to what they're eating)

They just need to acknowledge that switching from candy bars, cookies, and fries to whole grain bread, baked potatoes, and fruit won't make much difference at all - it all raises blood sugar, which can easily result in higher insulin levels, lethargy, and ravenous hunger.

Alter their diets to cut way back on carbs (mostly limiting them to non-starchy vegetables and low sugar fruits), retain enough dietary fat (or perhaps even increase it if they've been on a strict low fat diet) and add in enough protein to reach a good satiation level, and they might just *magically* see both the exercise and weight issues resolved.

It is admittedly difficult to make that switch - especially for a child who has no control over what food is being provided for them, and is used to eating lots of carbs, but I'm sure the biggest drawback to even trying this method is that it doesn't require drugs.

#10 ^

Thu, Sep-12-24, 07:54

Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline

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Having raised two boys and see how fat some of their friends were.....

Kids grow and use lots of energy. Give good quality foods but not the extras like chips, soda and packaged or tale out meals. Cook meals. Meats, veg and potato or rice. Over time kids slim out.

Anyone else see this happen??

That teenage growth spurt can fix the obesity of younger years without putting kids on a calorie deficit.