访谈录 2008-04-10&-4-12 一天得吃多少片维生素

Hello, I’m Elizabeth Vargas and welcome to 20/20 in touch.

 

Trying to find a way to cut back on your spending, maybe you can save on all those vitamin supplements you’ve been buying. Doctor Tim Johnson has a new prescription¹ for your physical and financial health.

 

24-year-old graduate student Ashley Mason is the picture of health. She does everything possible to stay that way. She watches her diet, exercises everyday. And she takes supplements to prevent health problem as she gets older.

 

Stop wrinkles before they start. Take these pills before you get sick. And it all sounds like a very good idea to me.

 

In fact, Ashley takes nearly a dozen different pills everyday.

 

Every week, I sort them into this sorter.

 

But Ashley is not a finale. Millions of people follow a regiment² like this. Last year American spent 22.5 billion dollars on dietary supplements, hoping to buy a protection against the whole range of illnesses. This is what Ashley is counting on to keep her healthy. A multi-vitamin, fish oil, flaxseed oil, calcium³, B-vitamins, magnesium⁴, glucosamine and vitamin E. It’s expensive, but she believes it’s an investment in her health.
 
It’s a lot of money for a graduate student to be paying every month for medication, while it’s not even really medication, I’m not sick.

 

Physically⁵, Ashley feels fine. It’s her pocketbook that hurts. A student on a tight budget, she's scraping together a thousand dollars a year for all her supplements. And since the manufactures don’t have to prove to consumers that any of this stuff actually works, 20/20 set out to see if taking all these pills is smart medicine.

 

Doctor Eric Rimm of the Harvard School of Public Health says a simple multi-vitamin can provide a sort of safety net against the less-than-perfect diet.

 

If you’re really on a generic⁶ mouthful vitamin which I think is probably enough for most people if you’re taking a supplement. The only thing where I would think there may be benefit would be taking from...er, will be taking vitamin D.

 

Vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin because it’s made when sunlight gets your skin.

 

Every tissue and cell in your body needs vitamin D for maximum health.

 

1 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

2 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

3 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

4 magnesium   

n.镁

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The water contains high amounts of magnesium.这水含有大量的镁。

5 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

6 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。