\n<\/p>\n
Estimates suggest 170 million children and adolescents worldwide are obese. <\/p>\n
That includes 70 million children aged 5\u20139. Obesity prevalence in this age group has quadrupled since 1990, rising from 2% to 8%.<\/p>\n
In 2024, 35 million children under the age of five were overweight.<\/p>\n
Obesity increases the risk of many different diseases, including type 2 diabetes. <\/p>\n
Dr Luz De Rigil, Director of Nutrition and Food Safety at WHO, said: “For children under 10, WHO does not recommend obesity medicines, bariatric surgery or weight-management devices. This is a strong recommendation.”<\/p>\n
These might be appropriate for older children and adolescents when lifestyle approaches have failed and if the individual is “mentally and physically prepared” for the treatment, she added.<\/p>\n
She said WHO recognises this is an evolving field and will continue to evaluate the evidence. <\/p>\n
WHO’s head of Nutrition and Food Safety Actions, Laurence Grummer-Strawn, said: “We are particularly concerned in this age group, if you are starting children very early on to using a GLP-1 or drugs like this, when does that stop? <\/p>\n
“We don’t really have evidence that you can use this as a temporary treatment and then turn to something dietary later on in life.<\/p>\n
“We are very cautious about jumping in without clear evidence,” he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n