Quick heads up for any parents with a kid on Ozempic, Wegovy, or one of the other GLP-1 drugs: a new study found a potential link between these medications and nutritional deficiencies in children, with about one in six kids affected. These are actual deficiencies showing up in bloodwork, not some maybe-down-the-road risk.

The findings were reported by KJRH, and this is one of those stories I want to get right because kids are involved and the stakes feel different than when we're talking about adults choosing this stuff for ourselves.

Quick background on how these drugs work, because it's relevant context (this part is me explaining, not the study): GLP-1 drugs work partly by making you eat less. When total food intake drops, the vitamins and minerals packed into that food can drop too. Less food coming in can mean less iron, less B12, less of a bunch of other stuff the body needs while it's, you know, actively growing and building bone and brain tissue. The study flagged the link between the drugs and deficiencies; it didn't spell out the exact why, so I'm not going to put words in the researchers' mouths.

My mom (Dr. Jane Clarke, for those who don't know her by now) has been saying this about restrictive eating in general forever: the problem usually isn't what you cut, it's that you shrink the whole pie and everything inside it shrinks with it. She used to lecture me about this back when my entire diet was energy drinks and whatever the gas station had hot. Different problem, same math.

So what does it look like to stay on top of this if your kid is on one of these meds?

First, baseline bloodwork and regular follow-ups. If your doctor put your kid on a GLP-1 without ordering labs, ask why. Not in a confrontational way, just ask. Good doctors won't mind.

Second, food quality matters way more now. When a kid's appetite is suppressed, every meal has to pull more weight. Protein especially. Kids on these drugs who are still eating mostly ultra-processed stuff are getting the worst of both worlds, fewer total nutrients and no density behind them.

Third, a basic multivitamin is cheap insurance. I wrote recently about research linking daily multivitamins to better physical function in older adults, and the logic here is similar. When intake is restricted, a supplement covers the gaps you can't see. Ask the pediatrician which one, because iron and B12 dosing for kids isn't one-size-fits-all.

None of this is a reason to panic or yank your kid off a medication a doctor prescribed. In my opinion, for some adolescents these drugs can be the right call, and I'm not going to shame anyone's family medical decisions. The pediatric obesity situation is complicated and I don't live in your house. That's my take, not the study's.

But it is a reason to be an annoying parent at appointments. Ask what's being monitored. Ask how often. Ask what signs of deficiency look like in a kid, because fatigue and irritability in a teenager can pass for a normal Tuesday.

If my twenties taught me anything, it's that eating less without eating better just trades one problem for a sneakier one. Took me years and a stack of my mom's magazine clippings to figure that out. Kids on these drugs shouldn't have to learn it the slow way too.