GLP-1 weight loss drugs can affect bone development in adolescents
UCI Health pediatrician worries about teens getting sufficient nutrition for growth
December 04, 2024
IN THE NEWS: Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first GLP-1 drug for use in adolescents 12 and older, more than 30,000 of them have been prescribed the medications.
Although the age group makes up just 1% of those prescribed the drugs, UCI Health pediatrician Dr. Dan Cooper warns that they could affect the growth of those taking them. He spoke with The Wall Street Journal about his worries.
“We know that if you don’t have sufficient bone mineralization between age 11 and your mid-20s, it’s extremely hard to add new bone mineral. During that critical period the things that will determine your bone mineralization are nutrition and exercise.”
Cooper is a pediatrician who sees patients at UCI Health Pediatric Services. He is also a Distinguished Professor of pediatrics at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, the associate director of the UC Irvine Institute for Clinical and Translational Science and interim director of the UC Irvine Institute for Precision Health.
Cooper’s research seeks to understand the role of physical activity and exercise in the growth and development of children and adolescents in both health and disease, especially in those with chronic conditionslike asthma, cystic fibrosis, obesity, heart disease and metabolic syndromes. In August 2023, Cooper published Unintended Consequences of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists Medication in Children and Adolescents – A Call to Action, a commentary about the risks of weight-loss drugs for children, including an increased risk of suicidal ideation. It was published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.
He is currently leading the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium, which will assess the molecular changes that occur in response to physical activity in children and adolescents as well as adults.
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