Chapter 1
Page 13: The figure of the survey results published in The BMJ is missing the GP data. The correct version of the graph can be viewed here
Page 19, second-last paragraph: 0.000000004 kilograms is equal to 4000 nanograms.
Chapter 3
Page 107, last paragraph, first sentence: This sentence should read, “Does a glass of hot water (covered with a coaster so that no water is lost as water vapour as it cools back down) weigh the same when it’s cold?
Page 115, “Why do warm things emit infrared light?” breakout box: the temperature at which thermal motion stops should be – 273.15 degrees Celsius.
Chapter 5
Page 180, first sentence of the first paragraph: “fatty acid” should be “glycerine” (note: the human body can covert the glycerine backbone of triglycerides to glucose but not the three fatty acids).
Page 191: In addition to point 4, amino acids (the building blocks of protein) can be classified into three categories as follows 1) “glucogenic” amino acids which can be converted to glucose, 2) “ketogenic” amino acids which can be converted to ketone bodies, and 3) “glucogenic/ketogenic” amino acids which can be converted to both glucose and ketone bodies.
Chapter 6
Page 200: The central (brain) control of ventilation is governed by the concentration of carbon dioxide, not oxygen, however it is probably not, or not solely, the brain fluid’s pH that we notice. This 2015 article in the journal Neuron reviews the known and as-yet unknown mechanism(s) involved the neural control of breathing and CO2 homeostasis.
Chapter 8
Page 251: The average energy density of the traditional Gambian diet reported by Prentice and Jebb in 2003 was 450 kilojoules per 100 grams.