Almost 1-in-10 teenagers have used harmful weight loss products

Over the last few years, there have been rising concerns over dieting and weight issues among teens. In 2020, University College London released a report that found that significantly higher numbers of Gen Z boys and girls in the UK are dieting to lose weight, and are likely to overestimate their weight. This, in combination with the rise in popularity of semaglutide drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, has created an environment where weight loss is on everyone’s mind, and it continues to impact the most vulnerable.

In a new global study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, Australian researchers found that nearly 1-in-10 teenagers have used harmful weight-loss products in their lifetime.

After analysing over 600,000 survey respondents and charting 90 different scientific studies over recent decades, researchers found a prevalence in 12 to 18-year-olds using diuretics, laxatives and diet pills without a prescription from a doctor.

Several countries have placed restrictions on these products. However, they remain primarily unregulated and openly accessible on social media. In an interview with 9news, Natasha Hall, one of the study’s authors, told reporters, “five per cent of female adolescents have used these products in the past week, which was really surprising”. One of the reasons this is particularly surprising is because weight-loss products do not work for children and young people. It’s one of the reasons doctors do not medically recommend them, along with the fact they’re dangerous for young people’s physical and psychological health and increase their risk of developing eating disorders.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, eating disorders have grown among young people. One study from 2022 found that hospital admissions for eating disorders in children in the United States grew 10 times faster in the first year of the pandemic than in the year prior. Additionally, in the last few years, there has also been an increase in the number of emergency department visits in the US related to eating disorders.

Teenagers are particularly susceptible to feelings of low self-esteem, as during puberty, your body releases hormones which make you more aware of how you look and how others around you look. Separate from that, we live in a society that places a significant amount of value on thinness for all genders, but especially for women. While we now live in what The Cut has dubbed the “Ozempic Era”, it’s no surprise that studies such as these highlight that weight-loss product use occurs at higher levels in teenage girls.

Hall hopes that such studies will prompt governments to consider greater restrictions on the sale of weight loss products, especially those advertised on social media, to protect young people from these harmful substances.