Number of U.S. kids taking GLP-1s for weight loss 310 times higher in 2026 than 2019, study shows

A new study from New York University shows that the number of American children taking GLP-1s for weight loss has increased 300-fold since 2019. But is it safe?

While the overall numbers of kids on GLP-1s remains low, the study found the number to be 310 times higher in June of this year than in 2019, when the drugs were first being prescribed. The eye-popping numbers surprised even the study's lead author, Dr. Babak J. Orandi.

"I just wasn't expecting the increase to be quite this dramatic," he said.

The study also found that more than 20,000 children in the U.S. ages 8 to 11 have been prescribed GLP-1s since 2019, 93.7% of whom had severe obesity, and children living in higher-income communities were 55% more likely to be prescribed, despite obesity rates being higher in lower-income communities.

"The hope is that as we establish more data about efficacy in these populations, that it becomes harder and harder to deny patients the medications," Orandi said.

While clinical trials are currently underway, parents may still be skeptical.

"I think it's important to have a healthy degree of skepticism," Orandi said. "When I was in my very first semester of medical school, our pharmacology professor told us, 'You never want to be the first person to take a new medication, and you never want to be the first doctor to prescribe a new medication.'"

While the trials and future studies will tell us more about how safe and effective GLP-1s are for treating childhood obesity, the importance of treating it, Orandi says, is something we don't need more trials and studies to tell us.

"The long-term ramifications of childhood obesity are pretty severe," he said.

The study's authors stress that patients with childhood obesity cannot be effectively treated with GLP-1s alone. Effective treatment must also include lifestyle changes like improved diet and exercise.