BBC随身英语｜爱吃甜食有哪些健康隐患？

Sweet tooth hazards

Sweet or savoury? What kind of tastes do you like? If like me, you have a sweet tooth, you probably can't resist eating cakes, biscuits or chocolate and will sweeten your tea or coffee with spoonfuls of sugar – delicious! But the taste makes it very easy to ignore the warnings that too much of the white stuff is bad for our health.

Consuming sugar is an addiction – the more we eat, the more we want. Today's processed food, like ready meals, is laced with the stuff and many fizzy drinks contain seven teaspoons of sugar in just one can. In the UK, statistics show that sugar consumption is at its highest level in history and the government is trying to get the food industry to cut the amount of sugar in popular products like chocolate bars by 20% by 2020.

Of course, sugary food tastes nice, it can help lift our mood, and the glucose in it can give us an energy boost. But there are dangers too: a high-sugar diet is linked to obesity, and being overweight can increase the risk of getting type 2 diabetes. With these warning signs, I have considered changing my diet by replacing sugary snacks with fruit and savoury biscuits – but that's boring, I need my sugar fix!

I'm not alone. BBC journalist Radhika Shanghani, has gone one step further. Encouraged by some celebrities and nutritionists promoting a 'zero tolerance' approach to sugar, she gave it up altogether, thinking it would make her healthier.

Initially she says, "My first fortnight involves mood swings worse than puberty. I have agonising headaches and feel permanently hungover." These symptoms disappeared but she still found food shopping hard as she was stressing about buying the right things.

Her experiment wasn't a success. She eventually sought advice from Susan Jebb, professor of diet and population health at Oxford University who said: "Lots of people enjoy sugar and gain pleasure from it, so one has to find a balance between enjoyment and eating the right amount."

There are health benefits of cutting down sugar, such as improving dental care and reducing weight gain, but there's no need to be obsessive about it. Eating some sugar as part of a balanced diet is fine and exercising will help burn it off.

So rather than dealing with your sugar cravings by cutting it out of your diet altogether, why not work on your willpower and learn to say 'no' to a second serving of chocolate fudge cheesecake.

词汇表
hazard [ˈhæzəd] n. 危害，风险，隐患
savoury [ˈseɪvəri] adj. 咸味的，可口的；n. 咸味小吃
sweet tooth 嗜甜，喜好甜食
sweeten [ˈswiːt(ə)n] vt. 使变甜，加糖于
spoonful [ˈspuːnfʊl] n. 一匙，一勺（的量）
ready meal 即食食品，速食餐
be laced with [ˈleɪst]  掺有，含有，被混入
fizzy drink [ˈfɪzi] 碳酸饮料，汽水
teaspoon [ˈtiːspuːn] n. 茶匙，一茶匙的量
lift one's mood 改善情绪，提振心情
glucose [ˈɡluːkəʊs] n. 葡萄糖
obesity [əʊˈbiːsəti] n. 肥胖，肥胖症
type 2 diabetes [ˌdaɪəˈbiːtiːz] 2型糖尿病
sugar fix 解糖瘾，糖分补充，来点甜的
nutritionist [njuˈtrɪʃənɪst] n. 营养学家，营养师
zero tolerance [ˈtɒlərəns] 零容忍政策
mood swings [ˈmuːd swɪŋz] 情绪波动，情绪起伏
puberty [ˈpjuːbəti] n. 青春期
agonising [ˈæɡənaɪzɪŋ] adj. 折磨人的，使人十分痛苦的
permanently [ˈpɜːmənəntli] adv. 永久地，长期地，总是
hungover [ˌhʌŋˈəʊvə(r)] adj. 宿醉的，酒后难受的
dental care [ˈdent(ə)l] 牙齿护理，口腔保健
be obsessive about [əbˈsesɪv] 对…过分执着，痴迷于，沉迷于
craving [ˈkreɪvɪŋ] n. 渴望，迫切需要，瘾
willpower [ˈwɪlpaʊə(r)] n. 意志力，毅力
serving [ˈsɜːvɪŋ] n. （食物的）一份，一客
chocolate fudge cheesecake [ˌtʃɒklət ˈfʌdʒ ˈtʃiːzkeɪk] 巧克力软糖芝士蛋糕

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