Increase In Children Using Reductil And Xenical

we feel that obese children should never be given weight loss medication

In a worrying development which highlights the obesity crisis in the UK, the use of the weight loss medications Reductil and Xenical have risen drastically in children over the last decade. Statistics show that the number of prescriptions issued to those below 18 has risen by fifteen times since 1999.

The research which was in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology makes clear that around 1,300 people under the age of eighteen get prescriptions for the weight loss medications Xenical and Reductil every year in the UK. Both of these drugs are licensed for prescription in the United Kingdom for adults and are not meant to be used by children except in extreme cases and at the discretion of local doctors who may feel that the benefits outweigh the risks.

The researchers collected the data from looking at the UK General Practice Research Database and in some cases noted that weight loss drug prescriptions had been written for children under the age of twelve.

In many cases the prescriptions were only for a short period of time and almost half of those prescribed Xenical gave it up after just one month and ¼ of those on Reductil did the same. The research team based at the University College London said that the data did not give them enough information to be able to conclude exactly why they stopped using the weight loss medications but it was likely to be because of side effects.

At Ukmedix News we feel that obese children should never be given weight loss medication but instead should be given nutritional advice and counseling in order to instill good eating habits into them. Since eating habits are formed at an early age reliance on weight loss medication could be extremely dangerous in the long run for children and cause psychological dependency on them lasting throughout their lives.