VOA标准英语2009年-Sugary Soft Drinks Raise Risk of Diabe

Researcher correlates even moderate amounts of sweet beverages¹ with greater likelihood of developing gestational diabetes²

Rose Hoban | Washington, DC 21 December 2009

 

Soft drinks have become a staple³ of diets in both wealthy and poorer countries.  Now research shows that calories from those sugary drinks might increase a woman's risk of developing diabetes while she's pregnant. 

In the United States, beverages supply close to 20 percent of the calories people consume every day.  Most of those calories come from sugary soft drinks. 

Liwei Chen, a researcher from Louisiana State University, says all that sugar is a problem because it contributes to obesity⁴ and life threatening conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  Chen suspected that women in the habit of consuming lots of sugary drinks might be increasing their risk of gestational diabetes. 

"Gestational diabetes is a special condition among women who do not have a diagnosis⁵ of Type 2 diabetes before pregnancy⁶, but, you know, have glucose⁷ intolerance during pregnancy," Chen says.

This inability to process sugar normally is not only a problem for the expectant mother.  It also creates problems for the baby. It's one of the most important causes of complications before and during birth.

So Chen looked at data from a study of more than 13,000 women.  The women were asked about what they ate and drank.  After they became pregnant, researchers monitored their health for about ten years.

"And what we found is those women who had habitual⁸ intake⁹ of higher sugar-sweetened beverages have a much higher risk of gestational diabetes as compared to those women who consume very low amounts of those beverages," Chen says.

The women at higher risk drank about five sugary drinks a week.  Even though this level falls below the average consumption in the U.S. and many other countries, it still presents a problem.  Chen concluded that a woman who consumes this much sugar, even before she gets pregnant, puts herself and her baby at risk during the pregnancy. 

"So those women are pretty healthy before the pregnancy, but they develop the diabetes during the pregnancy," she says.

Chen adds many factors affect health that people cannot control, such as a familial pre-disposition to diabetes.  But she says diet is something that people can change, and changing diets can help women stay healthier during pregnancy.

Chen published her paper in the journal Diabetes Care.
 

1 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

2 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。

3 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

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 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

6 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

7 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。

8 habitual   

adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的

参考例句：

• He is a habitual criminal.他是一个惯犯。
• They are habitual visitors to our house.他们是我家的常客。

9 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。