AppetiteJul 27, 2026

GLP-1 receptor drugs for obesity in teenagers during a key growth phase

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Aug 3, 2026

Abstract

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) demonstrate robust efficacy for treating adolescent obesity.

Adolescent obesity is linked to early cardiometabolic dysfunction and long-term health risks.
Behavioral interventions for weight loss show modest and temporary results, increasing the interest in pharmacotherapy.
GLP-1RAs lead to significant reductions in body weight and improvements in blood sugar control.
Short-term safety is primarily associated with temporary gastrointestinal symptoms and low serious adverse event rates.
Long-term effects of GLP-1RAs on growth, puberty, cognition, and energy balance regulation in adolescents remain unclear.
Further longitudinal and mechanistic studies are necessary to assess the developmental implications of GLP-1RA use.

Simplified

Adolescent obesity is a chronic disease associated with early cardiometabolic dysfunction and long-term health risk. Behavioral interventions alone produce modest and unsustained weight loss, leading to increasing use of pharmacotherapy. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) have emerged as highly effective treatments for obesity, producing clinically significant reductions in body weight and improvements in glycemic control. Short-term safety profiles are characterized primarily by transient gastrointestinal symptoms and low rates of serious adverse events or psychiatric symptoms. However, the developmental implications and long-term effects have yet to be evaluated. The purpose of this review is to summarize existing literature concerning the use of GLP-1RAs for adolescents with obesity and to discuss the implications of GLP-1RA use in the adolescent population. This review serves to both identify areas of potential concern and to highlight the need for continued research. Although GLP-1RAs demonstrate robust efficacy for the treatment of adolescent obesity, adolescence is a sensitive period of development and critical knowledge gaps remain regarding long-term effects of GLP-1RAs on growth, pubertal development, cognition, neural reward processing, and lifelong energy balance regulation. Longitudinal and mechanistic studies are needed to determine the long-term effects on development and to guide safe, developmentally informed clinical use.

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Funding

Competing interests

No financial or personal ties reported.

PubMed

GLP-1 receptor drugs for obesity in teenagers during a key growth phase

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

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