Teen Ozempic Use Is Skyrocketing—and Could Come With Serious Consequences

Ozempic was supposed to be a miracle shot for adults who’d tried every diet and trudged hundreds of miles on treadmills. Now that it’s making its way into high school, people are becoming a little more worried about it.

As reported by Reuters, recent studies from Truveta and Evernorth Research Institute show a spike in prescriptions of semaglutide meds like Ozempic and Wegovy among teens. Truveta clocked a 50 percent jump in prescriptions for kids aged 12 to 17 in 2024, while Evernorth recorded a nearly 68 percent surge among teens overall.

The magic trick these meds pull off is in how they’re able to trick your body into thinking it’s full after you’ve had a fraction of a meal we would’ve normally devoured. The thing is, we’re not one hundred percent sure how they do that or what effects the long-term use of these medications has on a developing body.

Doctors Are A Little Worried That So Many Teenagers Are Using Ozempic

Doctors like UNC’s Jennifer McCauley aren’t against using the meds, but she’s not handing them out to any kid who wants them. Her main beef is that these drugs might mess with bone and muscle development during crucial stages of growth. To develop into fully functioning, healthy adults, kids need plenty of protein.

If they’re taking a medication that reduces their food intake overall, they may not get the nutrients they need to keep growing.

Speaking to Reuters, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital pediatrician Robert Siegel says we’re flying blind when it comes to what these meds might do in the long run. We’re not even sure what they do to adults over several years, let alone what they do to teenagers whose bodies are still growing.

Many clinics don’t even have the equipment to monitor the effects properly. A doctor could put a teenager on one of these drugs as long as the kid and their parents are cool with essentially playing Russian Roulette with whatever side effects may pop up in the short and long term.