A new study found that nearly 1 in 6 children and teens who took GLP-1 weight-loss drugs developed a nutritional deficiency within a year of starting treatment.

What This Means for You

GLP-1 drugs are medicines like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound. Doctors use them to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, and more kids are now taking them too. This site exists to explain health news like this in plain terms, because you should not need a medical degree to understand what a new study means for your family.

Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine looked at medical records to see what happens to young patients after they start one of these drugs. They found a pattern worth watching closely if your child is on this kind of treatment.

The study looked at claims data from about 2,000 children ages 10 to 17 who started a GLP-1 drug between 2017 and 2022. None of them had a known deficiency before starting treatment.

Within a year, about 17% were diagnosed with a deficiency or a related problem, such as anemia. The most common issue was vitamin D deficiency, found in 12% of the kids. Nutritional anemia showed up in 1.55%, and iron-deficiency anemia in 1.44%.

The study cannot prove the drugs caused these problems. It only shows a pattern in the data, and it covers a time before these drugs became more widely used in kids. Still, other research has linked weight loss in general, and GLP-1 use specifically, to a higher risk of nutrient problems, including some rare but serious ones.

One likely factor: many kids were not getting nutrition help from their doctors. Only about 5% received dietary counseling in the first month on the drug, and just a quarter got it within six months.

Study author Justin Ryder, a Northwestern professor and surgeon at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, said the findings show why doctors need to act early. He said tracking these risks helps prevent harm to kids during an important stage of life, rather than waiting until a problem shows up.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended GLP-1 therapy for childhood obesity since 2023. Its guidance also calls for giving kids nutritional support alongside the medicine, not just the drug alone.

If your child is taking or starting a GLP-1 medication, ask their doctor about setting up nutrition monitoring and counseling from day one, not after a problem appears.