Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Troubling Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs

　　2022年的冬季，疫情趨緩，人們開始恢復社交活動。約翰．海利應邀參加一場派對，他預期會在現場看到因為宅居多時、身材紛紛走樣的眾人(就跟他本人一樣)，但實際狀況卻讓他大吃一驚──人們不僅沒有發福，甚至變得更苗條了。好，所以除了他以外，每個人都在封城時認真做皮拉提斯是吧？
 
　　「......你真的不知道為什麼嗎？」
 
　　直到現場的一位朋友瞪大眼睛，掏出手機，向他秀出解答：一支淺藍色的筆狀針劑。
 
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　　自從加工食品大幅滲入我們的飲食之中，減重便成為多數人的噩夢，而最為人所知的減重三寶：節食(少吃)、運動(多動)、恥辱感(對你現在的身形感到羞恥)，無一不伴隨著痛苦。如果可以不動手術、無須力行嚴格的節食計畫，只要按照指示自行注射針劑(未來甚至只需口服藥物)，就能看見顯著瘦身效果，你也會心動嗎？
 
　　多年來被用於治療糖尿病的注射藥物Ozempic（胰妥讚），由於抑制食慾的效果出奇理想，開始被作為減重使用，因為每週僅需注射一次、短短6-8個星期就可能成功減掉15%體重而瞬間爆紅。
 
　　為什麼嘗試減重的人，高達八成都失敗？Ozempic可視為一種治療過重的理想藥物，帶我們遠離肥胖併發症嗎？還有，為什麼我們總是想要瘦到「那個」程度？《誰偷走了你的專注力？》作者、得獎記者約翰．海利，多年來為身材所苦，反覆進行節食、健身，卻仍無法長期將體重控制在健康範圍內，擁有心臟病、糖尿病等家族病史的他，更因此成為罹病的高危險族群。他自2023年1月開始注射Ozempic，快速、有效的結果，讓他大為驚奇，同時也對此產生了疑問與不安。
 
　　海利因此投入探索這款藥物的起源，深入了解它如何發揮作用、又可能帶來哪些影響。在這過程中，他採訪眾多該領域的權威，誠實揭露這款熱門減肥藥背後十二種潛藏的危機，並全面檢視「減重」這個議題，與飲食、心理、健康之間的關係，供讀者進一步評估使用上的利弊風險，更引領我們思考這款藥物的出現，對於整體社會、文化的意義。(文/博客來編譯)

The bestselling author of Lost Connections and Stolen Focus offers a revelatory look at the new drugs transforming weight loss as we know it--from his personal experience on Ozempic to our ability to heal our society’s dysfunctional relationship with food, weight, and our bodies.

In January 2023, Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, one of the new drugs that produces significant weight loss. He wasn’t alone--some predictions suggest that in a few years, a quarter of the U.S. population will be taking these drugs. While around 80 percent of diets fail, someone taking one of the new drugs will lose up to a quarter of their body weight in six months. To the drugs’ defenders, here is a moment of liberation from a condition that massively increases your chances of diabetes, cancer, and an early death.

Still, Hari was wildly conflicted. Can these drugs really be as good as they sound? Are they a magic solution--or a magic trick? Finding the answer to this high-stakes question led him on a journey from Iceland to Minneapolis to Tokyo, and to interview the leading experts in the world on these questions. He found that along with the drug’s massive benefits come twelve significant potential risks.

He also found that these drugs radically challenge what we think we know about shame, willpower, and healing. What do they reveal about the nature of obesity itself? What psychological issues begin to emerge when our eating patterns are suddenly disrupted? Are the drugs a liberation or a further symptom of our deeply dysfunctional relationship with food?

These drugs are about to change our world, for better and for worse. Everybody needs to understand how they work--scientifically, emotionally, and culturally. Magic Pill is an essential guide to the revolution that has already begun, and which one leading expert argues will be as transformative as the invention of the smartphone.

Johann Hari is a writer and journalist. He has written for The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, and other newspapers. His TED Talks have been viewed over 70 million times, and his work has been praised by a broad range of people, from Oprah Winfrey to Noam Chomsky to Joe Rogan. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream, Lost Connections, and Stolen Focus.