July 10, 2023 – Nearly half of obese teens who took the favored drug semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) lost enough weight over nearly a 12 months and a half to be within the chubby or healthy body mass index (BMI) category. to achieve.
Compared to only 12% of 67 teens who received a placebo or dummy shot, 45% of 133 teens who took semaglutide in a single study modified BMI groups. The injections got under the skin once every week.
The BMI is just not a precise measurement, but serves as a general guideline. It is calculated based on height and weight. For example, a BMI of 30 kg/m is taken into account obesity2 or more, where kg is the burden of an individual in kilograms and m2 is their height in meters squared.
Teens on this BMI range who took Wegovy or Ozempic were 23 times more more likely to achieve a BMI of 25 to 29.9 kg/m2defined as chubby, or a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2 or a healthy weight.
The researchers called semaglutide “highly effective” for changing BMI status in teenagers.
As impressive as the outcomes were, Aaron S. Kelly, PhD, of the Department of Pediatrics and the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine on the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues emphasized that exercise and lifestyle changes, in addition to anti-obesity medications, are needed to realize this best results.
The research was not designed to specifically examine health advantages. However, researchers found that teenagers who were in not less than two BMI categories had greater improvements in things like cholesterol, blood pressure and weight circumference (a measure of fat across the middle) in comparison with others.
The study was published within the magazine obesity. Kelly and colleagues wrote that their study supports earlier initiation of anti-obesity medications to assist teens with obesity.
The study will follow just a few months later controversial guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. In January 2023, the group called for more aggressive treatment of obesity or chubby in children and adolescents. The guide sparked controversy since the academy really helpful anti-obesity medications and weight-loss surgery for some older children.