Kait Handler’s debilitating battle with food began when she was a child and is still something that haunts her to this day.
So when the yo-yo dieter noticed that her own daughter Birdie started developing the same weight-related issues at the age of eight, the New York-based mom took steps to prevent things from getting worse.
To start, Kait more closely monitored what Birdie ate; when that didn’t work, she enrolled her in therapy and encouraged her to walk more.
When the weight continued to increase, she enrolled Birdie in a weight-loss camp.
But when Birdie turned 12 and was in the 98th percentile for weight among children her age, making her clinically obese, Kait realized more drastic measures were needed.
The 40-year-old told the WSJ that she herself had begun experimenting with weight-loss medications, taking a compounded version of tirzepatide (the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound), which caused her to lose 75 pounds (34 kg).
That’s when he got the idea that the same type of medication might work for Birdie, who was 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighed 161.5 pounds (73 kg) at his heaviest.
After being turned away by a doctor, Kait made an appointment with Mochi, the obesity telehealth clinic she herself had initially joined to get weight-loss medication.
Kait Handler’s debilitating battle with food began when she was a child. So when she noticed her daughter Birdie was having the same dietary issues, she tried several methods.
After a virtual consultation, Birdie was prescribed compounded semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic.
Defending her decision to introduce her young daughter to weight-loss medication, Kait said: “She is struggling with her own self-esteem and this could alleviate those issues.”
‘Why wouldn’t I give him the tool he would need to do that?’
And it turns out Kait isn’t the only one encouraging her son to take weight-loss medication.
A report by researchers at the University of Michigan and Yale found that monthly doses of GLP-1 drugs, which also included Wegovy, in 12- to 15-year-olds skyrocketed from 8,700 in 2020 to 60,000 in 2023, an increase of nearly 600 percent.
This was prompted by the FDA’s approval of Wegovy for weight loss in children over 12 years of age in late 2022, providing another tool for pediatrics to use with obese children who cannot maintain a healthy weight. .
Birdie was prescribed a compounded version of the medication containing its active ingredient, semaglutide, which was cheaper than the brand-name version.
In total, Birdie’s Mochi membership costs $79 per month, with an additional $99 per month medication fee.
Since taking compounded semaglutide, the teen has lost 10 pounds (4.5 kg), adding to the 17 pounds (7.5 kg) she lost at a weight-loss camp. This now places it in the 94th percentile.
He praised weight-loss medications, which initially worried him, and concluded: ‘When I look at myself, I’m not as ashamed as before.
“The happier I feel, the sadder I will be when I am no longer happy.”
Meanwhile, Birdie’s father said weight-loss medications have helped reduce family stress.
She says this is because “the medication has eased the friction that tends to develop between parents and children around weight battles, eliminating the need for emotional discussions about eating.”
Birdie said she had no notable side effects from the medication, only “mild nausea” and that her appetite became easier to control.
But Dr. Joyce Lee, a University of Michigan pediatrician and diabetes expert who led the aforementioned research, said some young people report extreme nausea, vomiting or constipation, including symptoms so severe that they stop taking medications.
More than 60,000 children and young adults aged 12 to 25 were prescribed weight-loss drugs in the first year Ozempic was approved, figures released earlier this year show.
It’s important to understand the growing use of these medications among young people, Lee said.
The drugs are intended for continuous use, so “we really need to think about the long-term safety and effectiveness of these drugs for this population,” he said.
Additionally, medications are expensive and often difficult to obtain, either due to supply problems or because they are not covered by insurance.
In particular, government-run Medicaid plans paid for nearly half of the GLP-1 drugs prescribed to 12- to 17-year-olds and about a quarter of those used by 18- to 25-year-olds, the research found.
Commercial insurance covered care for nearly 44 percent of the youngest children and about two-thirds of the oldest.
Because Kait couldn’t afford brand-name weight-loss medications, which can cost more than $1,000 a month, she turned to the less expensive compounded version for Birdie.
According to the CDC, about 20 percent of American children and adolescents and about 42 percent of adults have the chronic disease.
In early 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that children and adolescents with obesity be evaluated early and treated intensively, including with surgery and medications if necessary.