A new study published in Childhood Obesity found that nearly one in six young patients (16.8%) in the US were diagnosed with a nutritional deficiency during the first year after starting GLP1 treatment for weight loss, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.

Vitamin D deficiency was the most frequently identified deficiency and affected 12.4% of children within one year of beginning the therapy.

Because GLP-1 medications can affect appetite and food intake, researchers say attention to nutrition may be especially important for younger patients receiving these drugs, for whom the body requires substantial nutritional support for bone growth, physical development and other major biological changes.

Concerningly, the researchers found that only 5% of patients received nutritional counseling within 30 days of GLP-1 treatment and less than 25% received nutritional counseling within six months.