One US professor of paediatrics said weight-loss medications 'don’t just change appetite, they transform family dynamics'. Photo / Getty Images
When Amy Kane started taking Mounjaro in 2022, she expected to lose weight — which she did, dropping more than 77kg.
What Kane, a 36-year-old content creator in Chicago, didn’t expect was for the effects on her health to be contagious.
Soon after she started the medication, her husband and children began eating more healthfully — and then became more physically active, too.
As medications like Ozempic transform the health of millions of people, some families are discovering a surprising side-effect: those not taking the drugs are changing their relationship with food and in some cases, losing weight as well.
There isn’t data yet to show how frequently this might occur, but medical experts have long observed similar effects with other weight-loss treatments, said Dr Lydia Alexander, the former president of the Obesity Medicine Association.
One study of bariatric surgery patients found that two-thirds of partners lost weight within a year of their spouse’s operation, with overweight partners showing the most significant changes.
Another study of participants with diabetes in a weight-loss programme found that spouses who weren’t undergoing any treatment lost an average of nearly 2.2kg and consumed significantly fewer calories from fat.
And anecdotally, providers around the United States said they are already seeing a similar effect with the families of patients taking drugs like Ozempic.
“These medications don’t just change appetite, they transform family dynamics,” said Dr Joey Skelton, professor of paediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
By 2024, about one in eight US adults had taken Ozempic or a similar drug, meaning tens of millions of spouses, children, and other family members could also be experiencing some effect from these medications without ever taking them.
Kane, who dealt with disordered eating for decades, said her previous attempts at weight loss made family outings and meals feel fraught with restrictions.
But “this has felt more like it’s part of my lifestyle”, she said. “It doesn’t feel like ‘Oh, I don’t want to eat these things’ or ‘I don’t want to go to this restaurant.’ I just eat less.”
Once she lost weight, family time became more active: Kane now has enough energy for walks to the park and impromptu dance parties with her three children, who are 10, 7, and 5.
And at the suggestion of her doctor, she now eats more lean proteins and fibre-rich foods — changes that have helped her husband eat and feel better, too.
“Obesity is a family affair,” said Yelena Kibasova, a corporate event manager in Minnesota who saw her family’s approach to diet and exercise change after she began taking Wegovy last year.
“You either make those changes and your family aligns, or over time, you fall back into old habits,” she added.
For some households, these changes feel overwhelmingly positive. But they can also come with risks, especially for children.
Unlike bariatric surgery, which requires a hospital stay and a longer recovery, it’s possible for parents to discreetly take weekly injections of drugs like Ozempic without their children realising.
“Watching a parent lose weight but not understanding why could send a real negative message to kids,” said Dr Keeley Pratt, professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University.
They may begin eating less or skipping meals themselves, thinking they’re following a healthy example from a parent, she added.
Kibasova was worried about how her use of the medication, which reduces appetite and curbs what many people describe as “food noise”, might affect her 12-year-old son.
The drug had helped her lose 13.6kg in six months, but she was concerned that her son, who has also struggled with his weight, might interpret her dramatic appetite changes and weight loss as validation that restricting food was the right approach.
So, she tried explaining that obesity is a disease and that she takes Wegovy to manage its symptoms, just like someone would take medicine for a mental health issue or high cholesterol.
And when Kibasova invited her son to join her in a new strength training routine — to combat muscle loss, a common side-effect of these medications — she framed their goal as building strength rather than losing weight.
Her son soon lost some of his body fat and gained muscle, and his self-esteem improved, Kibasova said. She found that the shared workouts helped her stick to her own goals, too.
The medications and the diet changes that often accompany them can also have downsides for romantic relationships.
“If you and your spouse love to cook together or go to restaurants together, and you suddenly start changing that, it’s interrupting something between you,” Skelton said.
Studies have found that people undergoing bariatric surgery are more likely than the general population to break up with or divorce their partners. On the other hand, research has also shown that single patients who underwent the procedure are more than twice as likely to enter into new relationships as people with obesity who didn’t have bariatric surgery.
Pratt, who has developed resources to help bariatric surgery patients anticipate and work through these challenges, is now working on similar guides for patients taking drugs like Ozempic and their families.
Ideally, she said, doctors could talk with patients as they start taking these drugs, and ask: “Are you in a romantic relationship right now? Do you have children at home? Here are the types of things that you should be thinking about.”
For Kia Griffin-Thomas, 42, one of the most surprising parts of starting a weight-loss drug was having to recalibrate how she planned meals and cooked for her family when she barely felt like eating.
“Just because I’m not eating, it doesn’t mean that they’re not hungry,” she said.
So, she decided to try getting her 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter more involved in meal preparation several times a week.
“They take a lot of joy in cooking and preparing, because they’ll say, ‘Look daddy, look what we made, look what we cooked,’” she said.
These family activities extend beyond the kitchen.
Her husband turned the sunroom in their northwest Indiana home into a gym so they could exercise together after the children are asleep, reviving a passion they shared before starting a family.
“We’re able to dance, go out, work out together,” Griffin-Thomas said. “It strengthened our relationship.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Jackie Snow
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