Bullied at 8, she almost took her own life. Her mother says weight-loss drugs helped save her.
Her mother says treatment with weight loss drugs reversed her diabetes after she “lost seven and a half stone.”
Global News Podcast · Woman at the centre of Spain's housing crisis diesIbby was eight years old during the COVID pandemic when struggles with weight and mental health took hold. After bullying at school, she almost took her own life.
Her mother, Andrea, said Ibby “was due a liver transplant.”
In Andrea’s account, treatment with weight loss drugs and support at a weight clinic turned things around. Andrea said Ibby has “lost seven and a half stone,” and that has, in her words, “completely reversed her diabetes.” She said the clinic put strategies in place to support Ibby through her mental health problems, which Andrea described as amazing.
The World Health Organization, in the description summarized by Aaron Kelly, a children's doctor at the University of Minnesota, calls childhood obesity a chronic, relapsing, and serious disease. Kelly said “children and adolescents are often stigmatized, bullied, and ostracized for their obesity,” and that children with obesity face higher risk of depression and anxiety.
That use of drugs in a child comes with caution. Asked about the WHO caution against operations and newer anti-obesity medicines for children, Kelly said “kids up to nine years old should probably not be going to medications right away except in extreme circumstances.” He said very few medications are approved for children under 12, and the only one he knew of approved in Europe was liraglutide, a GLP-1 drug for children ages six to 12.
The account does not say how old Ibby is now or how old she was when drug treatment started, so it does not show how that caution applied to her.
More generally, Kelly said many healthcare providers underestimate the severity of obesity and overestimate people's control over body weight, when a lot of weight is controlled biologically.
Andrea put what is at stake this way. Without the drugs and the clinic support, she said, “to cut it into a nutshell,” Ibby would not be here.
Questions people ask
Are weight-loss drugs approved for children?
Yes, but only a few, and usually for older children. In Europe, the GLP-1 drug liraglutide is approved for children ages six to 12, and other GLP-1 drugs are approved for adolescents 12 and older with obesity in the United States and Europe. Doctors generally consider them for teens only after lifestyle programs, nutrition counseling, and exercise support have not worked well enough.
What does the WHO recommend for childhood obesity?
The WHO emphasizes intensive lifestyle support first, including nutrition, activity, sleep, and counseling, and urges caution on medications and surgery for children. It has warned against moving quickly to surgery and newer weight loss drugs, especially for younger children, except in extreme circumstances. Many obesity specialists agree lifestyle care should come first but argue drugs should not be withheld when that care fails.
Why do doctors say lifestyle treatment alone often fails?
Pediatric studies find that counseling on diet and exercise, on average, produces small and often clinically insignificant weight loss for children with severe obesity. Researchers point to strong biological drivers of hunger, metabolism, and fat storage, combined with an environment full of calorie-dense food and little activity. Medications that reduce appetite and improve blood sugar can help counter those forces when paired with ongoing lifestyle support.