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Hundreds of children in England prescribed GLP-1 weight-loss injections

13h

Summary

  • 419 GLP-1 prescriptions, including Wegovy and Mounjaro, were issued to children under 18 in England in 2025-26, ten of them to under-12s.
  • The figures came from freedom of information requests and were reported to be a considerable underestimate, excluding private, prison, and hospital dispensing.
  • The prescriptions come through specialist NHS obesity clinics, whose doctors say the drugs are reserved for severely obese children unhelped by standard care.
  • New World Health Organization guidelines advise that GLP-1 medications should not be given to children under the age of 10.
  • GLP-1 medications were first developed for type 2 diabetes and have since become widely used slimming aids.
  • Official data show 10.7% of reception-year children and 22.8% of year-6 children in England are obese.

Reactions

  • Professor Martin Whyte said the number of prescriptions is small relative to the scale of childhood obesity and urged specialist support and monitoring of growth, nutrition, mental health, and side effects.
  • Clinician Julian Hamilton-Shield said semaglutide is used quite frequently, is very effective, and is given only after standard therapies have failed in children with comorbidities.
  • Dr Dunia Ismail said obesity is not a choice and forecast that children without GLP-1s will die young with heart disease and diabetes.
  • Ismail said experts are considering widening GLP-1 use from age 12 to children aged eight and above once licence-approved.
  • Experts recommended avoiding blame of patients or families for childhood obesity.

Timeline newest first

  1. Figures showed 419 GLP-1 prescriptions were issued to children under 18 in England in the financial year 2025-26, ten of them to children under 12.
  2. Freedom of information data showed 341 GLP-1 prescriptions were issued to children in England in the four months from April to July 2025, 15 to children under 12.
  3. New World Health Organization global guidelines stated obesity medications, including GLP-1s, should not be given to children under the age of 10.
  4. In May 2025, NHS England revealed almost 6,500 children had been referred to Complications from Excess Weight clinics since 2021, including more than 400 younger than four.
  5. The NHS began piloting Complications from Excess Weight clinics in 2021 for children aged 2 to 16 with severe obesity, with some clinics funded to offer GLP-1s.

Sources newest first

  • Hundreds of children in England prescribed weight-loss jabs, figures showtheguardian.com· 13h

    A Guardian investigation finds 419 GLP-1 prescriptions, including Wegovy and Mounjaro, were issued to children under 18 in England in 2025-26, ten of them to under-12s, and says the figures are likely a considerable underestimate. The prescriptions come through specialist NHS obesity clinics, whose doctors say the drugs are reserved for severely obese children unhelped by standard care, while new WHO guidelines advise against GLP-1s for under-10s and experts urge specialist support and monitoring.

Background newest first

  • Prevalence of use and interest in using glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists for weight loss: a population study in Great Britainnih.gov· 44w

    A population study of 5,893 British adults finds that in early 2025 about 2.9%, roughly 1.6 million people, had used GLP-1 or GLP-1/GIP medications for weight loss in the past year, most commonly Mounjaro, with use highest among women and mid-life adults. A further 6.5% of non-users, about 3.3 million adults, said they would likely consider the drugs, and the authors urge equitable access and regular monitoring as demand grows.

  • 1.6 million UK adults used weight loss drugs in past yearucl.ac.uk· 44w

    UCL research published in BMC Medicine and funded by Cancer Research UK estimates 1.6 million UK adults, 2.9% of survey participants, used weight loss drugs in the past year, mostly Mounjaro, with use twice as common among women and higher among people aged 45 to 55 and those reporting psychological distress. Another 3.3 million people said they would be interested in using the drugs, which Professor Sarah Jackson says far exceeds the NHS's initial goal of prescribing them to 220,000 people over three years.

  • Prevalence of use and interest in using glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists for weight loss: a population study in Great Britainmedrxiv.org· 1y

    A medRxiv preprint from University College London researchers finds 2.9% of British adults used GLP-1 receptor agonists for weight loss in early 2025, led by Mounjaro, with nearly 4.9 million adults either recent users or interested. The authors say the gap between use and interest suggests unmet demand and urge monitoring for safe, equitable provision of the drugs.