環(huán)球英語 1381 Dangerously Sweet
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Colin Lowther.
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And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand - no matter where in the world they live.
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A woman sits outside with her friends. It is a hot, sunny afternoon. She wants something to drink - something light and sweet. She wants a soda! But the woman knows that there is a lot of sugar in soda. She also knows that too much sugar is bad for her health. So she chooses a diet, or light, soda. Her friends choose the same kind of diet drink. They think that they are making a healthy choice. But are they?
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Light, or diet, soda does not have sugar in it. Instead, it contains artificial sweeteners. In an earlier Spotlight program, we talked about natural sweeteners. These include foods like sugar, honey, stevia and maple syrup. Natural sweeteners come from plants. But artificial sweeteners are chemicals. Although both are sweet, there are many important differences. Today’s Spotlight is on artificial sweeteners.
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People in every country like to eat sweet foods. The most popular sweetener is sugar. But too much sugar can cause health problems. Dr. Donald Hensrud teaches medicine and nutrition at the Mayo clinic research hospital. He tells ABC News why sugar can be a problem:
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“From a health stand point, sugar is a 'triple danger' - it provides extra calories. It has no nutrients that are good for your body. And it may make a person not eat other foods and nutrients in the diet that are more healthy.”
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Sugar provides quick energy. But it is easy to eat too much sugar. Then it turns into fat in the body. So people who eat too much sugar often have extra fat. This can cause many health problems. Too much sugar can also lead to diseases such as diabetes or heart problems.
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Many people avoid sugar because they do not want these health problems. But they still want to enjoy sweet food. To solve this problem, food and drug companies use artificial sweeteners. There are artificial sweeteners in chewing gum, diet or light soda drinks, sweets and many other kinds of food. There are even artificial sweeteners in some medicines. These things taste sweet. But they do not contain any sugar.
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Scientists discovered the first artificial sweetener in 1879. This sweetener was saccharine. During World War Two, it became difficult to find sugar. People began to use saccharine to sweeten their food and drink. By the 1960s, people began to use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar for health reasons. By the 1980s artificial sweeteners were commonly used in foods and drinks.
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Scientists also made other kinds of sweetener. In the United States, the most popular sweetener is aspartame. Other commonly used artificial sweeteners include neotame, sucralose and acesulfame potassium. These names of artificial sweeteners sound like the names of chemicals. That is because they are chemicals. They do not grow in nature. They are made in laboratories. This is the main difference between natural and artificial sweeteners.
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Artificial sweeteners also taste different than natural sweeteners. They are very sweet - even sweeter than sugar. But some people think they have a strange taste - like metal or chemicals.
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The other main difference between natural and artificial sweeteners is how they affect a person’s body. Natural sweeteners, like honey or sugarcane, are food. They give energy. If a person eats too much of any food, the energy turns into fat on his body. But artificial sweeteners do not give energy like sugar. They do not turn into fat like sugar.
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So many people think artificial sweeteners are better for their body. But are they healthy? Some people do not think these products are safe to use. They believe the chemicals in artificial sweeteners may cause serious health problems. Some people think artificial sweeteners can lead to many problems such as pains in the stomach and head, depression, memory loss, and problems with nerves. But the most serious reports show a link between artificial sweeteners and cancer.
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In 2005, a scientist released an important study about the artificial sweetener aspartame. Doctor Morando Soffritti [more-ando saw-freetee] was the scientist. He did a study on rats. Scientists often use this small animal with a long tail for laboratory experiments. Dr. Soffritti studied a group of 4,000 rats for seven years. He fed the rats the aspartame through their lives. He wanted to see what happened to the health of the rats over time.
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Some of the rats in Dr. Soffritti’s study became very sick. They developed two dangerous kinds of cancer - leukemia and lymphoma. This worried Dr. Soffritti. He told the New York Times newspaper,
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“If something causes cancer in animals, it should not be added to food. Especially if so many people use it.”
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The main reason people use artificial sweeteners is to avoid gaining too much fat. The women who chose a light soda believed that it would help to keep their bodies healthy. But several studies say that artificial sweeteners are not doing this. In one study, published in 2008, artificial sweeteners caused even more problems than sugar! The scientists gave artificial sweeteners to some rats. They gave sugar to other rats. The rats who ate sugar gained some fat. But the rats who ate sweeteners gained even more fat!
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Scientists think this is because the artificial sweeteners did not make the rats feel full. When the rats ate something sweet, their body expected the energy from sugar. Artificial sweeteners do not give any energy. So, the rats ate more of other foods. In this way, the studies show that artificial sweeteners may not even help people to be more healthy.
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As a result of these studies, some doctors and scientists think artificial sweeteners are dangerous. But most governments have approved using artificial sweeteners in food and drugs. They say that artificial sweeteners are safe in small amounts.
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In most places, people can get all kinds of sweeteners. Some people choose to use only natural sweeteners. Other people like artificial sweeteners. What do YOU think about artificial sweeteners? Which sweetener do you like most? Share your comments on the script page for this program on our website, at https://www.radioenglish.net
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The writer of this program was Johanna Poole. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at https://www.radioenglish net. .This program is called, ‘Dangerously Sweet?’
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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
