March 15, 2024 – Summer time is quick approaching, and the pressures of “bikini season” have some younger adults trying to GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic to shed weight. And whereas information exhibits that weight problems is skyrocketing amongst U.S. teenagers and younger adults, Ozempic and different GLP-1 medicines are very hardly ever the primary or finest choice to shed weight – particularly for individuals who don’t have weight problems or associated situations, consultants say.
Earlier than leaping to those medicines, teenagers ought to ensure that they’re consuming nutritious meals and getting sufficient train. However for teenagers who’re chubby (BMI over 25) or overweight (BMI 30 or extra),Sue Decotiis, MD, a triple board-certified medical weight reduction physician who runs a non-public apply in New York Metropolis, suggests they see their physician for a screening of their baseline metabolic fee and insulin ranges.
“Teenagers often have a quick metabolism, so by seeing their metabolism and insulin ranges, it will give me an thought whether or not they really need the drug,” she mentioned.
As temperatures rise on the highway to summer time, Ozempic and different GLP-1 medicines will be alluring as physique comparisons improve, in response to Wendy Sterling, a registered dietitian and co-author of Elevating Physique Optimistic Teenagers: A Mother or father’s Information to Food plan-Free Residing, Train, and Physique Picture. Younger folks needs to be hyper conscious of managing such ideas, she mentioned.
It is a notably essential message for these 18 to 24 years of age, whose brains are nonetheless rising and growing, mentioned Lexy Penney, a registered dietitian and proprietor of Lexy Penney Diet & Wellness, the place she focuses on areas surrounding younger adults and physique picture.
“If younger folks get the message ‘your physique is unsuitable and with a purpose to repair it, right here’s a tablet,’ it will possibly set off a cascade of turning to fast fixes, low vanity, and destructive physique picture that may take years to undo,” she mentioned.
One other crucial observe: Younger adults needs to be particularly conscious of the dangers of taking GLP-1 medicines, like Ozempic, if you end up not a certified candidate, in response to Michael Hakimi, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon and proprietor of Hakimi Plastic Surgical procedure in Beverly Hills.
Ozempic is FDA-approved for treating diabetes, whereas its sister drug, Wegovy, is accredited for weight problems in anybody 12 and over. Different choices embrace Mounjaro and Zepbound.
If you’re trying to shed 5 or 10 kilos, or you might be hoping to shed weight in a selected space of your physique, this isn’t a drugs for you, Hakimi mentioned. He sees such inquiries so much with youthful sufferers, who’ve a decrease BMI and wish to shed weight in simply a part of the physique (within the stomach space, for instance).
“For those who’re not chubby, you could know that these medicines trigger you to shed weight in every single place,” Hakimi mentioned. “These medicines may even make you look older to some extent in the event that they’re abused or misused by sufferers that may’t afford to lose extra weight of their face or of their buttocks, for instance.”
Hakimi mentioned docs have an obligation to teach sufferers with decrease BMIs about potential outcomes of those medicines, which embrace extreme unwanted effects within the intestine, like diarrhea, extreme constipation, and even pancreatitis. There’s additionally the fee. The medication can value $1,000 a month, and plenty of insurers will not cowl them. Plus, research have proven that many individuals regain weight in the event that they cease taking the medicines.
If you’re weighing the choice of taking a GLP-1 remedy, it is very important ask your self what’s driving your potential choice. Take a look at your social media use and take account of who you might be following, instructed Sterling. Look at how these accounts make you are feeling and whether or not you are feeling impressed vs. feeling like you could change one thing about your self.
“A lot of what we see on-line is unrealistic,” she mentioned. “We’re all inundated with food plan tradition, and most are determined for fast methods to shed weight.” She suggests making an attempt a “weight impartial” method, corresponding to stress administration, correct sleep, and listening to starvation and fullness cues to succeed in your distinctive physique objectives.
