Magic Pill

April 15, 2024
Dunkin' peddles enough donuts daily to encircle the planet twice. After Santa Claus, Ronald McDonald is the second best-known character in the world. The typical American adult is now more than 20 pounds heavier than in 1960. Overeating, consuming unhealthy foods, and obesity keep growing. Costly new drugs producing amazing weight loss are now available. But are they safe? Hari interviews many obesity experts in his informative, lively, and careful description of weight-reduction pharmaceuticals, mainly semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus). These medications promote satiety and provoke insulin production. Concerned about his own health and weight, Hari opts to try Ozempic. After only two days, he experiences no hunger but has mild nausea. After six months, he feels emotionally dulled, but his weight loss is dramatic. Possible side effects of these medications include gastrointestinal problems, lightheadedness, and, rarely, an increased chance of thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, and suicidal thoughts. Hari worries about potential, as yet unidentified long-term adverse effects but contrasts those with the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer associated with untreated obesity. Hari also considers society's preference for thinness, body image, the psychology of overeating, and concerns about the online availability of these drugs. A terrific read for anyone curious about or considering using these remarkable medications.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from May 10, 2024

Journalist Hari's (Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How To Think Deeply Again) approach to analyzing concerns about weight and weight-loss drugs in the United States is far more nuanced than popular perspectives from dieticians, fitness experts, and others directly working in spaces focused on obesity, disordered eating, and pharmaceuticals. He analyzes the ways in which the risks may or may not outweigh the benefits of weight loss drugs from a medical perspective, while remaining astutely aware of his own relationship to his body before and after using Ozempic. He discusses the effects of obesity on physical and psychological health and the tendency in cultural discourse to avoid speaking frankly about diets, use of weight-loss drugs, and, critically, access to these drugs, even as the use of Ozempic and its like is in evidence, particularly among celebrities. Critically, Hari also interrogates socially received notions of willpower, discipline, and shame and the United States' dysfunctional relationship with food. VERDICT This is not a simple book about weight loss. Instead, Hari explores obesity-related medical concerns and the risks of drugs such as Ozempic, all the while peppering the book with anecdotes designed to remind readers that the choices they make about weight loss often have far less to do with the number on the scale than they do with the stories they have been told about their bodies.--Emily Bowles

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2024
A current overview of the drugs available for weight loss. Journalist Hari, author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections, begins with a vivid description of his fascination with junk food, along with the oft-told story of the food industry's post-World War II breakthrough in manufacturing calorie-dense, fatty, salty, chemically enhanced edible products, many not found in nature but irresistible to consumers. "The average American adult weighs twenty-three pounds more than in 1960," writes the author, "and more than 70 percent of all Americans are ei-ther overweight or obese." Unfortunately, diets rarely work. Weight-loss drugs, touted for decades, were mostly worthless; the few that worked turned out to be toxic. Following the history lesson, Hari reveals that the wildly popular drugs--Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy--are effective. Six months after starting Ozempic, the author was thinner, fitter, and more confident, but also uneasy. He felt full soon after beginning a meal, food lacked its usual appeal, and he felt nauseous more than before. As he relates, 5% to 10% of users stop because the side effects aren't worth it. However, the drugs have been treating diabetes for 18 years, so the odds of a patient developing a serious side effect seem small. In addition to his personal story, Hari chronicles his travels around the world interviewing users, researchers, physicians, and the drug's developers, pausing for thoughtful essays on why we eat and overeat, why dieting almost never works, and how the world may change when these drugs become affordable after the patent expires in 2032. In a mildly optimistic conclusion, Hari argues that our first priority should be to eliminate the superprocessed quasi-foods that we can't resist--unlikely, of course, so the author offers a digestible survey of the possibilities of pharmaceuticals. A sober exploration of weight-loss pills that actually work.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 8, 2024
Ozempic and Wegovy carry “huge potential benefits... and huge potential risks,” according to this balanced assessment. Journalist Hari (Stolen Focus) explains how the research on GLP-1, a hormone that’s released in the gut after eating, led to the development of weight-loss drugs that generate long-lasting copies of the hormone, helping users feel sated for longer after meals. There are pros and cons to these medications, he contends, noting that while they reduce the likelihood of cardiac events by 20% and stabilize blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, the long-term risks remain unknown. More troubling, he argues, is that the drugs allow the food industry to escape culpability for manufacturing harmful, ultra-processed products designed to generate cravings while providing little nutritional value. Hari, who was formerly considered clinically obese, probes his own ambivalence about taking Ozempic, recounting how his confidence swelled after losing more than 30 pounds on the drug, even as he felt guilty about not losing the weight “through hard work.” The levelheaded analysis recognizes how weight-loss drugs can serve as band-aids for broader problems even as they provide real benefits, and Hari’s candid introspection reveals the complex psychological effects of taking the medications. One of the first books about the Ozempic age, this sets a high bar for those to follow. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management.