this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023

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New Drugs Can Fix Teenage Obesity, but Young People Don’t Get Them (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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Pediatricians are hesitating to prescribe medicines like Wegovy, citing their newness and uncertainties around them.

Dr. Edward Lewis, a pediatrician in Rochester, N.Y., has seen hundreds of children with obesity over the years in his medical practice. He finally may have a treatment for their medical condition — the powerful weight loss drug Wegovy.

But that does not mean Dr. Lewis is prescribing it. Nor are most other pediatricians.

“I am reluctant to prescribe medications we don’t use on a day-to-day basis,” Dr. Lewis said. And, he added, he is disinclined to use “a medicine that is a relative newcomer to the scene in kids.”

Regulators and medical groups have all said that these drugs are appropriate for children as young as 12. But like Dr. Lewis, many pediatricians hesitate to prescribe Wegovy to young people, fearful that too little is known about long term effects, and mindful of past cases when problems emerged years after a drug was approved.

Twenty-two percent of adolescents age 12 to 19 have obesity. Research shows that most are unlikely to ever overcome the condition — advice to diet and exercise usually has not helped. The reason, obesity researchers say, is that obesity is not caused by a lack of will power. Instead, it is a chronic disease characterized by an overwhelming desire to eat.

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[–] Lophostemon@aussie.zone 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Or… the shitty “food” industry could be radically reformed to stop monopolising the market with super-high sugar sources.

[+] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee -7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Or, don't eat shit out of a box?

That was one of the first lessons in our diabetes course.

[–] BadEngineering@kbin.social 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

And how do poor families afford to do that? Processed foods are the cheapest and most abundant things to eat here in the US. Eating healthy isn't cheap, fresh foods are not cheap, high quality meats are not cheap. Not to mention when the parents are working sometimes 2 or even 3 jobs to make ends meet, where do they find the time to prepare a healthy home cooked meal?
Lophostemon is right that the food industry pushes the cheap processed stuff because that's where all of their profit is, cheap ingredients can be hidden behind processing, cheap fillers are used in place of more nutritional ingredients, and sugars can be added to get the buyers physically addicted to their products.
But a real solution would have to go a step further than just regulating what kinds of foods producers are allowed to sell. People need to be able to afford to purchase the healthy options, and they need the time required to prepare them. Less working hours and more pay for workers would go further towards ending hunger and obesity in this country than pretty much anything else.

[–] ryan@the.coolest.zone 6 points 10 months ago

Agreed. It's kind of funny, in a very darkly comedic way, how so many issues can be traced back to "late stage capitalism was, and continues to be, a problem". Having the ability to purchase, and the time to prepare, healthy foods is a privilege enjoyed by people with means. There's so much wrong with that.

[–] paradiso@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Besides gardening, which is a cheat code for fresh/healthy food. Beans, lentils, oatmeal, eggs, ground beef, frozen veggies, etc. Eating healthy is definitely affordable.

[–] bbkpr@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Yes because everyone has room for a garden.

[–] Lophostemon@aussie.zone 6 points 10 months ago

I’ve got a garden but it’s not like you get stuff within hours of putting seeds in the ground. Gardening is a long term investment that rarely pays off in food production and sporadically at that.

[–] BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago

Beans, lentils, five, oatmeal, and frozen veggies are cheaper than pretty much any junk food around.

But by all means, find whatever excuse you like.

[–] paradiso@lemm.ee 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No, but if you want to be healthy, it's definitely not a money issue.

[–] Daxtron2@startrek.website 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Having the space and time to garden absolutely is a money issue

[–] paradiso@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

I was extremely tired when I wrote that comment. Should have been more clear. Forget the gardening lol, the other foods I listed are easily purchased from most grocery stores and are very much affordable. Rice, beans, lentils, frozen veggies, oatmeal, etc. Get a crock pot and throw a bunch of that stuff in it (with maybe some bouillon, cheap canned stock, or spices of choice), then bam! Cheap, healthy food for the whole week.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Funny how the FDA had rolled back safety standards on food ingredients right around the same time child obesity rates started rising 🤔

[–] kool_newt@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Lack of weight loss drugs is not the cause of teenage obesity, therefore the solution to teenage obesity is not the addition of drugs.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I like what you're saying, but that logic doesn't hold rocks.

Lack of chemo is not the cause of cancer, therefore the solution to cancer is not chemo? Chemo is definitely a solution to cancer, shitty as it is.

[–] kool_newt@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Treatment and even cures are not solutions. The solution to elevated cancer rates is to reduce carcinogen exposure.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's a fair semantic point.

No, the solution to cancer is fixing our genes so that it's not possible. The same goes with obesity. Back when food was scarce, people who store fats better thrived and we evolved that way.

[–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 2 points 10 months ago

No syllogism is complete without Newt’s Knife.

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

so the options are teach your kids good habits or... give them drugs? And this is framed as the pediatrician's fault for not doing it?

[–] Notyou@sopuli.xyz 3 points 10 months ago

Last time I remember a bunch of doctors were told a new drug was safe, we had that whole Oxy drug epidemic. I wouldn't expect doctors to just believe in these "studies" as much as they did before.

But yeah just teach diet/nutrition, exercise, and sleep. That helped solve some problems with me and I'm not on daily "maintenance" medication anymore.

[–] CharadeYouAreNot@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Drugs. The American answer for everything. Unhappy, just take drugs. Tired, more drugs. Side effects from those drugs, we have a drug for that! Instead of fixing the underlying problem let’s keep putting bandaids on the problem until we look like the Michelin Man.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Hey! I like drugs!

[–] oDDmON@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Is no one admitting these are lifelong maintenance drugs, while also ignoring compliance issues with a young age bracket?

Also, studies show discontinuance of the medication results in at least 2/3 of the lost weight being regained. How will that look in these cases?

Quit rushing to stab junk in your leg , so you can keep cramming crap in your piehole.

[–] CrackaAssCracka@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

What about the 19yo I saw today, with a BMI of 62, who's so far stuck in the cycle of self loathing, inactivity, depression, and pleasure seeking behavior that he can't see a way out let alone start creating himself a new reality? What if I have a drug that I'm pretty confident can help him lose 200lbs? Is it ethical for me to not prescribe it because "he should be able to do it on his own?" How many people do you know who have done that? Out of the hundreds or horribly obese patients I've seems, I have tow that have done it with diet and exercise. We have not evolved for a world where 20,000 calories costs $20 and is available 24/7.

I agree we need to be cautious with these drugs since long-term adverse effects aren't known but the long-term effects of obesity are well documented. I have backed off on pitching these drugs since I learned the companies making them have infiltrated the obesity research community in the US (because of course they did). They're still an amazing tool in the fight against an obesity epidemic which has many, many different contributing factors li ok e trauma, depression, mental health issues, upbringing, genetics, etc, etc. it's not as easy as "just don't eat so much."

[–] Genmjrpain@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Nobody "gets" teenagers. Duh!

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml -3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You know what else fixes teenage obesity? Not over-eating and getting regular exercise.

[–] Gnelfo@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Education for parents on how not to ruin their children's health, Education for children on the effects of diet in schools.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Also being both outside the US!