An analysis of medical records has shown that stimulant medications, like those used to treat childhood ADHD, can also be linked to weight gain in a child’s teenage years.
These findings were publishing in the journal Pediatrics.
In 2011, 11 percent of American children between the age of four and 17 had been diagnosed with ADHD, according to Reuters. Half of these children were taking Adderall or Ritalin (or other stimulant drugs) to correct the disorder.
At first studies had suggested that ADHD and weight gain were linked, however, this will be the first tie between the drugs administered and weight gain. The result of the newest study have opened researchers’ eyes to how ADHD and weight gain relate to one another.
This is confusing to scientists for two reasons though. According to TIME, the hyperactivity in the children does not lead to weight gain. Similarly, the drugs administered to treat ADHD are stimulants, which have been known to burn calories faster.
The study took a look at the children diagnosed who were treated with stimulants. Though the children seemed to have a lower weight than their peers when they were young, after the children came off of the stimulant drug gained weight.
What this tells researchers is that drugs, like Ritalin and Adderall, still effect the children’s bodies long after they have taken the drug.
“We certainly need to be more cautious about use of these medications in children,” says Dr. Brian Schwartz, who led the study. “Obesity has lifelong risks. If this is a consequence of stimulant use, and since there is evidence that we might be overprescribing stimulants, we might be contributing to the childhood- and adult-obesity epidemics.”