The New York Times bestselling author who taught us How Not to Die, How Not to Diet, and How Not to Age brings us OZEMPIC: Risks, Benefits, and Natural Alternatives to GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs. A new class of weight-loss drugs has received enormous, almost unprecedented attention in the mainstream media and business press.

Ozempic and other GLP-1 mimics have been heralded as the medical sensation of the decade, the end of obesity, and game-changing miracle drugs. Are they worthy of all the hype? History is littered with failed weight-loss wonder drugs. From “rainbow diet pills” packed with amphetamines to the rise and fall of fen-phen, the vast majority of weight-loss drugs approved in the United States have been pulled from the marketplace due to unforeseen side effects that turned them into a public health threat.

In OZEMPIC: Risks, Benefits, and Natural Alternatives to GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs, Dr. Michael Greger explores the science behind these medications and gives us the answers we need. How safe are they? Why do so many people stop taking them after only a few months? What causes the weight loss to plateau, and what happens when you quit the drugs? He explains how to deal with their more common short-term side effects—such as “Ozempic face,” muscle loss, and gastrointestinal distress—as well as the risks of more serious ones, including thyroid and pancreatic cancers. Their long-term risk profile is still unknown. Are there safer, cheaper, natural alternatives to boost GLP-1 with diet and lifestyle?

In this primer, Dr. Greger cuts through the promotional puffery and presents the pros and cons of these weight-loss drugs so individuals can make up their own mind in the face of the very real and devastating consequences of obesity.