The Hunger Game: The Inside Story of Glp-1s and the Race to Cure Obesity (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781250389084)

Revised and updated: the fascinating story of the creation of GLP-1s and their revolutionary impact on public health.

A "cure" for obesity has long been the holy grail for the pharmaceutical industry, one that seemed unattainable until recent breakthroughs in type 2 diabetes research led to the development of Ozempic, a weight loss medication that activates a hormone in the stomach called GLP-1, making people feel fuller for longer. The treatment is so effective that it is already disrupting many industries--from healthcare to fast food to fashion--and it has quickly made its creator, Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the most valuable company in Europe. But the impact of GLP-1s goes far beyond billion-dollar profits; a true long-term cure for obesity could save 40 percent of American adults from dangerous, preventable illnesses. And as more potential benefits emerge, one question looms in the minds of investors, healthcare workers, and politicians: Are these drugs too good to be true?

In The Hunger Game, Reuters journalist Aimee Donnellan illuminates the history of a medical breakthrough that is poised to change the world, while raising difficult social questions about inequality and morality. Through original reporting and rigorous research, she forecasts the future of GLP-1s and examines what their explosive popularity tells us about our ideals of beauty and the lengths to which people will go in order to become thin.

Along the way, Donnellan profiles the scientist whose contributions to the discovery of GLP-1 were overlooked, documents her fight for recognition while her colleagues were thrust into the limelight, and offers new insights into the ways that the food and beauty industries made billions while promoting unhealthy and unrealistic body image standards and accelerating the obesity crisis. She also provides firsthand accounts of several early Ozempic users and the transformative effect the drug has had on their weight loss journeys.

First published as Off the Scales, The Hunger Game is an informative and entertaining study of the unexpected consequences of finally getting what we've wanted for so long.

Author: Aimee Donnellan
ISBN-10: 1250389089
ISBN-13: 9781250389084
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Language: English
Published: 01/05/2027
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.38w x 1.00d