According to a new analysis, adolescents around the world, especially girls, use large amounts of non-prescription drugs, nutritional supplements and other weight loss products, CNN reported.
Based on a review of dozens of studies over the past four decades, researchers estimate that about 9 percent of adolescents have used over-the-counter weight loss products in their lifetime, with about half of them using them in the past month. Diet pills were the most common products used by about 6% of adolescents in their lifetime, followed by about 4% who used laxatives and 2% who used diuretics.
These products are risky for both the physical and mental health of children and are not medically recommended for maintaining a healthy weight. Previous research has linked the use of non-prescription weight loss products to eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression and substance abuse in teenagers. They are also associated with poor dietary intake in adolescence and unhealthy weight gain in adulthood.
Dr. Paula Coady, director of adolescent medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, warned about the dangers of diet pills and supplements after hearing enough patients ask about weight loss or muscle-building supplements - and the problem only grows.
"The incidence of eating disorders has increased dramatically since the pandemic. We are seeing a sharp increase in the number," she said. "That's why I think that the concern that I had before, and which was not small then - now I am even more concerned."
A 2022 study found that hospitalizations for eating disorders among US children rose 10 times faster in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic than in years before, and other studies also showed an increase in emergency room visits. departments. The new study analyzed the use of diet pills and other weight loss products in more countries than just the US, but the prevalence was most common in North America.
When Coady works with patients with eating disorders, she says she sometimes sees dramatic changes in their heart rate, blood pressure or sleep patterns.
"It can be quite significant," she said. "And you're trying to figure out, 'What's the reason for this?' And the only change was that they started taking a diet pill that contained caffeine."
Some patients are able to stop taking the pills when they realize the negative health effects they cause. But for others, an eating disorder convinces them that their health is less important than the number they see on the scale.
"For people who think they're going to do everything they can to lose weight, diet pills can be a very, very intriguing thing to add to the arsenal," Coady said.
Childhood obesity is increasing worldwide. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2022, about 39 million children will suffer from obesity. In the U.S., childhood obesity is a "serious problem," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affecting nearly one in five children ages 2 to 17.
But weight loss programs within the formal health care system are designed to protect against some of the risks; that doesn't happen when teens turn to diet pills or other nonprescription weight loss products, experts say.
"When patients find themselves in a situation where they feel a little more desperate about their desire to lose weight and do things without guidance and direction and choose more unhealthy options, that can certainly lead to more problematic mental or behavioral nutrition," said Dr. Sarah Raatz, a pediatrician at the University of Minnesota's Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine.
"The new (American Academy of Pediatrics) clinical practice guidelines mention that a structured program like our clinic, where you meet with health care providers and nutritionists and get a lot of guidance, will actually protect you from this," added Raatz.
There are no formal standards for how pediatric weight management clinics operate,” she says, but patients at her clinic have appointments every few weeks or months. Mental health screenings are carried out at each visit and a team of mental health professionals is available.
Patients and their families sometimes ask Raatz about ads they've seen for weight-loss supplements — things like apple cider vinegar gum, the pediatrician said — and she actively discourages them.
"I explain that it's not regulated, the benefits are not evidence-based, it's just not the way we would recommend the treatment," she said.
Still, the researchers of the new study write that it is "alarming" how easy it is to access them, and "interventions are urgently needed to prevent and regulate the use of weight loss products in this population"./BGNES
