VOA慢速英语2021--Could the US Regulate What Americans Eat?

 

Nine out of 10 American adults have unhealthy metabolisms², mostly because of the food they eat. Experts say it might be time for the government to regulate what Americans put in their mouths.

Dariush Mozaffarian is a heart doctor at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He said the food industry is the only area of the economy "where we have the majority of products being knowingly dangerous, and we leave it up" to the public to decide what to have.

If there is a product that hurts people, "we get rid of it," Mozaffarian said.

To look at someone's metabolic³ health, doctors measure things like blood sugar, cholesterol⁴ and blood pressure. People who are in poor metabolic health are at increased risk of getting diabetes⁵, heart disease and other serious health problems.

"When you have nine out of 10 adults being metabolically⁶ unhealthy, largely due to diet-related illnesses, you know we have a broken system," Mozaffarian said.

A big part of the problem is that Americans eat a lot of junk food. Junk foods are processed foods like sweets or potato chips that provide little nutritional⁷ value and are high in fat, salt and sugar. A study by the National Institutes of Health found that junk foods account for 1 out every 7 calories in adults and 1 out of every 5 calories in children.

Junk foods are hard to resist because they contain things the body wants and needs.

Sweet, salty and fatty foods "are things that are very necessary to live, they're energy providing," said Linda Bartoshuk. She is a professor of food science at the University of Florida.

The problem, she said, is that the body has a hard time knowing when to stop wanting them.

"We take in too much salt, too much sugar, too much fat, and it produces all kinds of illnesses," Bartoshuk said.

Mozaffarian is among health experts who are calling for more policies to help Americans eat healthier foods.

He would like to see the federal government improve nutrition in existing food programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Meals on Wheels. SNAP provides financial aid to poor families to buy food, and Meals on Wheels delivers meals to older Americans.

Mozaffarian also thinks food nutrition should be included in the health care system. Even though Americans are getting less healthy, the United States spent $3.8 trillion on health care in 2019.

Doctors, for example, could write prescriptions⁹ for healthy foods that are partially¹⁰ or fully¹¹ paid for, Mozaffarian said. He also thinks there could be more nutritional education for health care workers, and students in medical school.

And while Mozaffarian believes nutritional education would be effective, changing Americans' diet is most important, he said.

"We're going to need to fix the food, right, so that parents and kids who are busy and out wanting to enjoy their lives can get nutritious¹², affordable¹³ food," he said.

Words in This Story

metabolism¹ — n. the chemical processes by which a plant or an animal uses food, water, etc., to grow and heal and to make energy

regulate — n. to make rules or laws that control (something)

cholesterol — n. a substance that is found in the bodies of people and animals

nutrition — n. the process of eating the right kind of food so you can grow properly and be healthy

calorie — n. a unit of heat used to indicate the amount of energy that foods will produce in the human body

afford — v. to be able to pay for (something)

prescription⁸ — n. a written message from a doctor that officially tells someone to use a medicine, therapy, etc.

1 metabolism   

n.新陈代谢

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• All living matter undergoes a process of metabolism.生物都有新陈代谢。

2 metabolisms   

n.新陈代谢( metabolism的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Garden snails are evolving slower metabolisms. 花园蜗牛新陈代谢进化缓慢。 来自互联网
• Elite swimmers tend to be born with certain advantages, such as superefficient metabolisms. 精华的游泳者趋于与某个优点出生，例如superefficient新陈代谢。 来自互联网

3 metabolic   

adj.新陈代谢的

参考例句：

• Impressive metabolic alternations have been undergone during embryogenesis.在胚胎发生期间经历了深刻的代谢变化。
• A number of intoxicants are associated with metabolic acidosis.许多毒性物质可引起代谢性酸中毒。

4 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

5 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。

6 metabolically   

代谢的（metabolic的副词形式）

参考例句：

• Intact skin is a highly complex, metabolically active organ. 完整的皮肤是一个高度复杂、代谢灵敏的器官。 来自辞典例句

7 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

8 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。

9 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。

10 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 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。

13 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。