United States: As per a new study, children who used a weight loss drug, liraglutide, in its late-stage trial have been able to lose a significant amount of weight compared to those children who were administered a placebo.
More about the study
According to health experts, it could be a very difficult task for any person to lose weight, regardless of age.
In the case of most adults and children aged twelve and older have access to highly working novel medicine – GLP-1 receptor agonists.
However, as doctors say, younger children must depend upon healthy lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, and counseling alone to lose weight. Children with the most elaborate interventions garner only modest results, note the experts, CNN reported.
What more has the study explained?
The first study analyzed the effects of the GLP-1 drug liraglutide on younger children. It gathered that the drug could have a major effect on their body mass index, a measure used by experts as an indicator of whether an individual is obese or not.
The reports state that Liraglutide medication received approval from the US FDA in 2014 to serve adults in their weight loss journey.
Additionally, the FDA extended the approval for its use in children aged twelve to seventeen.
How was the study conducted?
The study, whose findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, was presented at the annual European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference by its lead and co-author, Dr. Claudia Fox, who is a pediatrician who works with the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
The experts examined the effects of the drug on children aged 6-12, who were considered to have a high BMI. On average, a 10-year-old in the study was weighed almost 155 pounds.
The trial had the participation of 82 children, out of which 56 received liraglutide shot one time a day. The rest of the children receive a placebo.
However, all of the participating children were also given counseling to urge them to adopt a healthier diet and perform moderate to high-level exercise at least an hour a day, CNN reported.
The groups had shown significantly different results. For example, in just one year, the BMIs of the children receiving the medicine were reduced by 7.4 percent, more than the placebo group.
Children in the liraglutide group experienced a 5.8 percent drop in BMI, whereas the placebo group experienced a 1.6 percent increase.
Novo Nordisk, the drugmaker, sponsored the study.
Results in line with other studies
The study results showed that they were in line with the outcome of other studies. However, the younger children happen to have stark results.
As per Fox News, “That to me was the most surprising, and it makes me think that maybe we should be intervening at younger ages.”