PBS高端访谈:如何降低年轻人的肥胖率

 　　GWEN IFILL:Researchers are assessing, and in many cases applauding, a new paper that reports a substantial drop in childhood obesity¹ among the preschool set, a 43 percent decline.

　　It’s raising interesting questions about whether a shift in public health policies helps explain what’s happening.

　　First lady Michelle Obama has become the face of the administration’s anti-obesity campaign, encouraging young people especially to eat better, move more, slim down. Now the Centers for Disease Control is reporting some progress.

　　Among preschoolers aged² 2 to 5, obesity rates have dropped from 14 percent to about 8 percent overall during the past decade. It’s welcome news, since overweight preschoolers are five times as likely to become overweight adults.

　　Possible causes for the drop include efforts to promote breast-feeding, cut consumption of sugary drinks and encourage exercise. The first lady’s Let’s Move campaign, for instance, has focused on changing nutrition and exercise habits among children, planting and harvesting a White House vegetable garden, and collaborating³ with celebrities⁴ like comedian⁵ Will Ferrell.

　　WILL FERRELL:Also, is diet cola, is that a vegetable?

　　GWEN IFILL:And, yesterday, the administration unveiled new rules that ban marketing⁶ of unhealthy food in schools.

　　MICHELLE OBAMA:So, I think we can all agree that our classrooms should be healthy places where kids are not bombarded with ads for junk food.

　　GWEN IFILL:Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also took up the cause, moving to eliminate trans fats and limit the size of sodas⁸ and other sugary drinks.

　　Still, the CDC reports, the apparent progress among preschoolers does not extend to other age groups. Instead, a third of American children and teenagers and more than two-thirds of adults remain obese⁹ or overweight.

　　Christina Economos of Tufts University watches all this closely. She’s an associate professor at the Schools of Medicine and Nutrition Science. She also helps lead an initiative called ChildObesity180.org — got that right.

　　OK, Christina Economos, give me a sense of how significant the news of this decline is.

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS, Tufts University School of Medicine:Good evening.

　　These results are unequivocally amazing, and we really need to applaud, but we can’t stop yet. This is a small snapshot, and it’s a small group of children within the United States. And we need to reach all children between the ages of 2 and 19 and see progress.

　　GWEN IFILL: All good news is good news. I don’t disagree with you there.

　　But we do wonder whether — why it is younger people are seeing improvement and others are not.

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS:Well, in that age group, there’s been tremendous effort to regulate within child care centers, so that children are eating healthier foods, moving more and are exposed to less screen time.

　　We also know there have been changes to the WIC package over the last few years that provides more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and supports breast-feeding. And these efforts really target 2- to 5-year-old children and have resulted in really significant declines.

　　GWEN IFILL: Can I walk you through each of those possible reasons one at a time?

　　Let’s talk about the impact of sugary drinks. How much does that contribute to what we’re seeing? Especially in children so young, you wouldn’t think that would be a big issue.

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS:Sure.

　　A big percentage of sugar consumption in children comes from sugar-sweetened beverage¹⁰. And there have been several public health campaigns in place over the last five to 10 years trying to reduce consumption for all children, particularly young children, so they don’t begin to drink sugary beverages¹¹ and they continue consumption through the teen years.

　　We know that hundreds of calories are consumed by teenagers every year, and, surprisingly, even around 100 calories in our very youngest children.

　　GWEN IFILL:And what about physical activity? In this children this young, you would think that would be a given.

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS:You would think so. They should be getting between one to two hours per day.

　　But with all the different sedentary enticements now, children are often watching screens for many, many hours per day. And in unsafe neighborhoods, they might not be going outside to play. So a real effort is under way to get kids up and moving, expending¹² calories for one to two hours per day. Within child care centers, that’s a really important cause.

　　GWEN IFILL:A lot of this is — in fact, we talked about recess¹³ coming — making a comeback on this program not long ago. In a lot of cases, we’re talking about nutritional¹⁴ awareness¹⁵. Is this something which starts with adults and is affecting the youngest children?

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS: Definitely. I think there is an increased awareness in this country that we have an obesity epidemic¹⁶, that we need to change our eating habits.

　　And, very importantly, we need to change the environment that we live in. So that means better policies, access and availability to healthier food for all Americans, so in underserved areas, as well as privileged areas. And many efforts are under way to make that happen.

　　GWEN IFILL:Is there any way to — you mentioned the difference between what’s happening in underserved areas, as well as privileged areas. And you also mentioned the change in the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.

　　How much of that can you break out? I know this is a small incident, but how much do you know in these kinds of programs is it having an effect?

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS: Sure.

　　Well, we know that children who are eligible¹⁷ for supplemental food assistance like WIC are underserved children. And those changes are very important for them. But if we pull apart the recent data that we’re talking about now in the decline in the obesity rates, it starts to unravel¹⁸ when you look at the disparities.

　　So we know that white children have lower rates than black children and Hispanic children. And the disparities are quite striking. And that tells us that more effort has to be put into reaching underserved children, whether it’s income or race, ethnicity that’s impacting that, and putting more effort into government programs and community programs that really reach those children.

　　GWEN IFILL: How do you do that at a time of other priorities being made in government spending and in government in general and in nutrition programs? I mean, how do you take the piece of good news that we discovered today and have it extend to other demographics and age groups?

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS: Sure.

　　Well, this problem of obesity is quite complex, and it really requires a systems approach to deal with it. So it means that we can’t just work within health care or schools or child care. We need to work systematically¹⁹ and make changes in all of those systems, because collectively that’s what will show us the change.

　　And we know that children move out of environments throughout the day that are serviced by government dollars and private dollars. And so everyone working together and make these changes will really add up to declines in obesity throughout childhood.

　　GWEN IFILL:The other thing we heard about this weekend, we keep hearing about labeling and nutrition labeling, and also this idea that marketing in schools, even if you are not serving soda⁷, just having a big soft drink sign could have an effect. How much of that is going to drive what happens next?

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS: I think it will be a big part. A lot of us believe that we need to reduce exposure to marketing for young children.

　　They’re unable to differentiate²⁰ something that is being advertised to them and something that is being brought to them as education. So we need to work really hard to make sure that children aren’t exposed to messages for unhealthy foods, and schools shouldn’t be a place where they see those messages.

　　We also need to reduce exposure through television and other areas where they go.

　　GWEN IFILL:What do you say to people who look at something like this and say, the government cannot take away my hot dog for my child; this is just getting in the way of our right to nourish ourselves the way we choose?

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS:Yes, government steps in to make changes that we know are best for the population.

　　And we have done this through multiple public health strategies, with smoking, for example. And, in this case, we have a set of dietary guidelines. We know what children should be exposed to and should be consuming. And in situations where they’re spending large amounts of time, they should be provided with those healthy foods.

　　And if government plays a role, I think that’s really important. But it’s not just government. It’s also the private sector²¹ and academics who are doing good research, putting out recommendations, and communities across the country. So it really is a collective effort that we need to be focused on.

　　GWEN IFILL:Christina Economos of Tufts University, thank you very much.

　　CHRISTINA ECONOMOS: Thank you.

1 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。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

4 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

5 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

8 sodas   

n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• There are plenty of sodas in the refrigerator. 冰箱里有很多碳酸饮料。 来自辞典例句
• Two whisky and sodas, please. 请来两杯威士忌苏打。 来自辞典例句

9 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

10 beverage   

n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料

参考例句：

• The beverage is often colored with caramel.这种饮料常用焦糖染色。
• Beer is a beverage of the remotest time.啤酒是一种最古老的饮料。

11 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

12 expending   

v.花费( expend的现在分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽

参考例句：

• The heart pumps by expending and contracting of muscle. 心脏通过收缩肌肉抽取和放出（血液）。 来自互联网
• Criminal action is an action of expending cost and then producing profit. 刑事诉讼是一种需要支付成本、能够产生收益的活动。 来自互联网

13 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

14 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。

15 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

16 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

17 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

18 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

19 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

20 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

21 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。