美国国家公共电台 NPR--In addition to hunger, Sen. Cory Booker says the U.S. faces a nutrition crisis

In addition to hunger, Sen. Cory Booker says the U.S. faces a nutrition crisis

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez talks to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey² about the first White House conference on ending hunger in more than 50 years.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Democratic Senator Cory Booker was part of a bipartisan group behind the hunger conference. Booker talked with our co-host, A Martinez, and offered his vision for some outcomes.

CORY BOOKER: The challenge we have now is we have a twin problem in our country. There still is hunger and food insecurity. But we have this explosion now of a nutrition crisis, with one out of every three of our government dollars being spent on health care because we have so many diet-related diseases out there from diabetes³ and heart disease, this explosion of obesity⁴, that is really threatening public health in a way we have never seen before. So my hope is that this is the beginning of another major movement in America to expand access to healthy, fresh foods, affordable⁵ foods, as well as making sure that we stop this over-proliferation of highly processed, sugar-filled, nutrition-empty foods that are really driving disease at alarming rates.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

So when it comes to nutrition, I know you've raised concerns about what you just mentioned, ultra-processed foods. And your concerns are based a lot on packaging labels. So what are those concerns when it comes to that?

BOOKER: Well, first, let me tell you the underlying⁶ concern of this all, which most Americans don't realize. We are a nation that dramatically subsidizes the foods that are making us sick. And only 2% of our ag subsidies⁷ go to the healthy, fresh foods that our nutritionists tells us we should have as the majority of our diet. And that's wrong. And that's one of the reasons why you see in America places that are food deserts. They have a proliferation of tax-subsidized foods, but no access to healthy, fresh, affordable foods. And as a result of that, that then drives taxpayer⁸ expenses again because of this incredibly high health care costs.

So the White House, to their credit, has already come out with a vision to address some of these things. The first thing is getting behind a movement that's been growing for years, which is a food as medicine movement, that people can literally⁹ get in their Medicare, Medicaid prescriptions¹⁰ for healthy fruits and vegetables, which actually will not only improve public health, but the evidence shows it will drive down our health care costs as well. And then to the point you made about food labeling - we have seen from other countries that are doing it, that do front-of-package labeling with critical information for consumers, that consumers will make better choices. And it will also help overall with public health.

MART?NEZ: So would the warning labels say that this food is unhealthy? Or would it just offer the information that is on the back on the front to make it more obvious for someone reading, oh, this has a lot of sugar or this has a lot of fat?

BOOKER: I'm hoping that the warning label would let people know that these foods are unhealthy, especially when consumed at large amounts, and are driving so much of our diet-related diseases. Let me give you an example. Fifty percent of America right now has Type 2 diabetes or has pre-diabetes. We are seeing such levels of diet-related diseases. We have a crisis of health in this country when one out of three of our government dollars, again, is used for health care, when almost one out of five of our dollars in our economy are being used to treat, again, health problems, most of which are related to what we eat or are preventable diseases. We have got to be a society that informs consumers, provides healthy, nutritious¹¹ alternatives and aligns¹² our tax subsidies with the foods we actually want people to eat and stop allowing these companies to do these very specifically designed foods that are addicting¹³, that are - that trigger cravings. To let us subsidize that food, at the end of the day, only helps to drive these diseases that we see proliferating¹⁴ in our society.

MART?NEZ: How do you balance the need, though, to create a healthier food landscape with allowing people to make their own choices, buying saltier or sweeter food just because, maybe, Senator, they like it more?

BOOKER: Oh. Well, again, this is nothing about restraining freedom. It's not telling people what to eat. God, I don't want anybody in government telling me what to eat. I want to have my free choices. But again, I want to not have my government subsidizing those unhealthy choices and then making the healthy choices not only more expensive by not subsidizing them equally, but also just not having access to it because of the proliferation of food deserts. This is something we can do as a society. But somebody's got to start asking the question, why is we - have we had such an increasing demand for health care? - because diet-related diseases have been going up so dramatically over the last 25 years. We need to be a nation that starts to embrace a food policy that elevates health, elevates well-being¹⁵, lowers costs and empowers Americans to live the life of their dreams.

MART?NEZ: That's Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. Senator, thanks.

BOOKER: Thank you very much.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

4 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

5 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

6 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

7 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

11 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

12 aligns   

使成一线( align的第三人称单数 )； 排整齐； 校准； 公开支持（某人、集体或观点）

参考例句：

• HASP SRM fully aligns with the software product lifecycle. HASPSRM完全遵循软件产品的生命周期。
• Significant employee aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders. 员工大量持股可以使员工与股东的利益协调一致。

13 addicting   

使沉溺（addict的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• I love salt and vinegar chips. They are very addicting. 我爱盐和醋芯片。他们非常上瘾。
• Leave it to Britney to sing a juicy and addicting song. 布兰妮呈现了一首很刺激也很让人上瘾的歌曲！

14 proliferating   

激增( proliferate的现在分词 )； （迅速）繁殖； 增生； 扩散

参考例句：

• Computerized data bases are proliferating fast. 计算机化的数据库正在激增。
• Crown galls are cancerous growths composed of disorganized and proliferating plant cells. 冠瘿是无组织的正在不断增殖的植物细胞所组成的癌状物。

15 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。