Correction posted on May 21st, 2024
I received an email from Lauren Shirreff pointing out seven errors in my book. I’m grateful to her for bringing them to my attention.
1. I write: “It’s not a coincidence that [Scotland] is both the place that invented the concept of the deep-fried Mars bar and, according to a report by their own public health body, has the second highest obesity levels in the developed world.”
This was true in 2007, when the report I am citing was published, but since then, some other countries have become more obese than Scotland. In future editions this sentence will read:
“It’s not a coincidence that [Scotland] is the place that invented the concept of the deep-fried Mars bar and has been for many years one of the most obese nations in the developed world.”
2. I write: “Everybody naturally loses some muscle mass as they get older. After the age of thirty, it begins to decline by around 8 per cent a year, and after you turn sixty, that process accelerates further.”
This is a proof-reading error (for which I am fully responsible, because it’s my job to check the final text for errors): it should say “around 8 percent a decade,” not “around 8 percent a year.”
3. I write about a health program in Finland: “He launched a campaign to transform how people ate – educating the public about the risks, persuading food companies to change their ingredients, and launching a mass programme of volunteers to teach people how to cook differently. As a direct result, Finnish men became 80 per cent less likely to die of heart disease. It increased life expectancy in the country by ten years.”
In fact, life expectancy in Finland increased after these changes by seven years. It went up by ten years only where the program was centred, in North Karelia. In future editions the sentence will read “It increased life expectancy in the North Karelia region, where these changes began, by ten years, and it went up by seven years in the rest of Finland.”
4. I write: “Shelley [Bovey] called her first book The Forbidden Body, because that’s how it felt: that she was living in a body that was forbidden. It came out in 1989, and that’s when, as a little boy, I saw her being mocked on television.”
In fact, the book she published in 1989 was named ‘Being Fat Is Not A Sin.’ ‘The Forbidden Body’ was her second book.
5. I write: “One famous figure in the movement, for example, the writer Virginia Sole Smith – who has made good points in other contexts – said in an interview that the primary driving force behind Ozempic was to say: ‘Can we finally be rid of fat people? … Can we finally stop having fat people around, so I don’t have to look at them any more?’” This was said by a different leading figure in the Fat Pride / body positivity movement, Aubrey Gordon. I apologise to her and to Virginia Sole Smith for confusing their appearances on episodes of the Waves podcast, and will correct this attribution in future editions of the book.
6. I say of Iceland’s strategy to reduce teenage alcohol use that it reduced the rates from 42 percent to 5 percent of kids getting drunk. A more recent data set from the OECD suggests it is 8 percent. I am happy to add this to the text.
7. I write: “Ronald McDonald is the second most recognised figure in the world, beaten only by Santa Claus.” This was in fact from a study of American kids, so I will change this to: “Twenty years ago, Ronald McDonald was the second most recognised figure for American kids, beaten only by Santa Claus.”
Correction posted on May 14th, 2024
On page 139 of the US edition and page 167 of the UK edition, I made an error in this paragraph:
“But I suspect I am probably an exception, and the response of the food critic Jay Rayner is more typical. He said that Ozempic robbed him of his pleasure in food so severely that even in great restaurants in Paris, he couldn’t find any joy. I think it depends where you’re starting from: if, like Jay, you are somebody who finds bliss in food, then these drugs will diminish that; but if, like me, you’re somebody who stuffs food with little pleasure, then these drugs might actually enhance it.”
I confused an article in the Guardian by Jay Rayner with an article in the same newspaper a few weeks earlier by Leila Latif. Rayner wrote that he would not take Ozempic because it would ruin his pleasure in food, while she described a loss of pleasure and this experience in Paris. I am frustrated with myself for making this mistake and apologise to Rayner unreservedly. I also told this story in a few interviews, and I have asked that they are also corrected.
That paragraph has now been replaced in the book with this:
“But I suspect I am probably an exception. Many people taking these drugs describe losing their pleasure in eating. Some people find that foods they used to love no longer give them joy. I think it depends where you’re starting from: if you are somebody who experiences bliss from food and sees meals as one of the highlights of your day, then these drugs will likely diminish that; but if, like me, you’re somebody who stuffs food with little pleasure, then these drugs might actually enhance it.”
I also would like to make a correction here relating to Leila Latif. I believed her article was describing taking Ozempic because the original subheading in the Guardian said she was taking semaglutide for her diabetes. This was later corrected, and I should have noticed that. I am happy to clarify that Leila Latif is not taking any of the new weight loss drugs, and never has been. I apologise to her for getting this wrong.
Correction posted on March 26th, 2024
I have three small tweaks to the chapter about Japan.
In the final part of the editing process, I made an error – my fact-checkers suggested a few small amendments to this part of the book. I was sure I had included them, but it seems I in fact missed this.
They are:
(1) I tweaked this paragraph: “Just 3.6 percent of its people are obese, compared to 26 percent of people in the UK, and 42.5 percent in the US. Even more strikingly, obesity in the country is falling from this already low rate, and currently shrinking by 0.8 percent a year. As a result, the market for these drugs will, the article noted, be “slow.””
It now reads: “Just 4.5 percent of its people are obese, compared to 26 percent of people in the UK, and 42.5 percent in the US. Even more strikingly, the report said that obesity in the country is projected to shrink by 0.8 percent a year. As a result, the market for these drugs will, the article noted, be “slow.””
(2) I tweaked this sentence: “Whatever you think of its ethics, the Metabo Law has—along with Japan’s other measures—achieved its goal. Since it was introduced, obesity is declining in Japan once again, and is at the lowest level in the developed world.”
It now reads: “Whatever you think of its ethics, the Metabo Law does seem to be—along with Japan’s other measures – having an impact. Its obesity rate is currently the lowest level in the developed world.”
(3) I tweaked this sentence: “Japanese-Hawaiians are nearly five times more likely to be obese than people back in Japan”
It now reads: “Japanese-Hawaiians are more than four times more likely to be obese than people back in Japan.”
