Study estimates 1 in 10 teens have tried unapproved weight loss drugs
The pressure to be thin is something that almost everyone feels at some point. And when it comes to body insecurities, teenagers are among the most vulnerable, often turning to extremes to change themselves.
That bears out in a new study estimating that nearly one out of 10 adolescents has used an unapproved weight loss product in their lifetime.
Unapprovedweight loss products are drugs or supplements taken with the intent to lose weight, though they are not medically or scientifically proven to do so. These products may include laxatives, unapproved “diet pills” and herbal supplements, or diuretics — drugs thatexpel water from the body.
Using these products for weight loss can lead to stroke, heart attack and digestive dysfunction. “Twenty-three thousand people are sent to emergency [rooms] every year due to injury and illness caused by dietary supplements,” said S. Bryn Austin, a professor at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an author on the study, which was published in JAMA Network Open earlier this month.
“Most people — whether that’s parents or young people — have no idea that these products in the U.S.
are not pre-screened for safety or effectiveness before they go to market,” continued Austin. “What that means is your children are the lab rats for this industry.”
Unapproved weight loss products can also be “a bridge into disordered behaviors around weight management,” says Treah Haggerty, director of Pediatric Medical Weight Management at West Virginia University. Past research shows that diet pill usage is associated with a three to five times risk of being diagnosedwith an eating disorder.
For the new study, researchers from Harvard and Melbourne-based Monash University and Deakin University analyzed 90 studies on weight loss products in adolescents conducted over the last four decades. They separated the studies into two groups: those published before 2000, and those published after. By pooling the data, researchers estimated that, prior to 2000, about 5% of teens had tried unapproved weight loss drugs; after the year 2000,that number nearly doubled to 9%.
Polling shows that a significant number of adolescents are unhappy with their appearance — nearly two-thirds in all, according to a 2022 survey of parents of adolescents from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan Health. At 31%, weight came in as a top concern, just behind appearance of acne/skin, at 32%.
Long Le, a senior research fellow at Monash University and senior author on the study, believes that social media may be the culprit behind the rise noted in his report, and worries forthe future.
“The proportion of teenagers using weight loss products will not stop at 10% if we do nothing.It will continue to grow,” he says. “The government needs to step in and do something to protectthe new generation’s health.”
Still, researchers want to know more about weight loss product use in adolescents. The studies in the meta-analysis primarily observed teenagers in North America, and many also only focused on girls. To get a clearer picture of weight loss product use in boys and teenagers around the world, future studies are needed.
Haggerty also cautions that because this research pools data from a large number of studies over different time periods, it’s only an estimate of weight loss product use rather than an exact measurement. This data also can’t prove social media is the reason why more adolescents are trying weight loss drugs, though Haggerty agrees platforms like TikTok are a majordriver of dangerous diets among teens.
An American Psychological Association study, published last year, concurs, finding that pulling back on just half of all social media use for three weeks had a significant impact on how participants felt about their bodies. That report looked at males and females aged 17-25.
Le ultimately hopes to test whether policy interventions can help prevent adolescents from turning to dangerous weight loss products. The state of New York has already banned the sale of over-the-counter weight loss supplements to minors with a law that will go into effect this April.
While there’s no government action on the horizon in Pennsylvania, Austin says that parents and health care providers can still do their part to make sure teens aren’t using dangerous weight loss drugs. She recommends that parents have frank conversations with their children about what they’re seeing on social media and among their friends, and that health care providers need to directly ask their patients if they’re using any pills or supplementsto promote weight loss.
“There’s no reason that any young person shouldbe using these products,” says Austin.