This is the VOA Special English Health Report , from //voaspecialenglish.com | //facebook.com/voalearningenglish
How many calories we eat appears to be more important than what we eat when we eat too much. That was the finding of a new study that should be satisfying to anyone who counts calories for weight control.More than one billion adults are overweight. The World Health Organization calls obesity a global epidemic. Government researchers have just reported their latest estimates for the United States. The good news: obesity rates have not increased much in recent years. The bad news: they have not decreased either. More than one-third of adults were obese in two thousand nine and two thousand ten. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows there are all kinds of conflicting diet plans. Some tell people not to eat carbohydrates. Others say not to eat fats. Still others say to eat more protein. Or to eat less protein. Dr. George Bray at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana led the new study. He wanted to know if protein affects weight gain. Twenty-five healthy adults were in the study. They were overfed by almost a thousand calories a day over an eight-week period. Calories in food are a measure of energy. The people followed diets with low, normal or high levels of protein. Normal was defined as fifteen percent of energy from protein. Dr. Bray says all of them gained weight: "Fat storage was exactly the same with all three levels of protein. It was the calories that they ate that affected the body fat that they stored." Those who ate a higher percentage of protein gained more lean body mass. Dr. Bray says the opposite happened on a low protein diet: "If your protein intake's low, you'll actually lose body mass even though you're eating an excess amount of calories."He tells his patients to weigh themselves regularly so they can know quickly if they gain weight. His study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian at the Harvard School of Public Health studies the relationship between diet and conditions like heart disease and diabetes. He says, "We don't need to go down a list of 'avoid this, avoid that' -- become, you know, food police. It's really actually mostly foods that should be increased. It's fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, vegetable oils and nuts." He says increasing these six foods by about one serving each day would reduce obesity and help slow the epidemic of obesity-related diseases.For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.You can find a video about the study at voaspecialenglish.com.
(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 18Jan2012)
This is the VOA Special English Health Report , from //voaspecialenglish.com | //facebook.com/voalearningenglish
Picture a huge public gathering -- a sea of people like the hajj to Mecca or an appearance by the pope. Think of the World Cup, the Olympics, a political event or a rock concert. When thousands or even millions of people get together, what do you suppose is the biggest health concern? Traditionally, doctors and public health officials were most concerned about the spread of infectious diseases, like influenza. Robert Steffen, a researcher in Switzerland, says infectious diseases are still a concern. But he says injuries and hot weather are bigger threats at so-called mass gatherings. Mr. Steffen is a professor of travel medicine at the University of Zurich. He is the lead author of one of several new papers about health problems at mass gatherings in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.Professor Steffen says children and older people have the highest risk of injury or other health problems at these events. He says children are more at risk of getting crushed in stampedes, while older people are at higher risk from extreme heat.Stampedes and cases of crushing at mass gatherings have caused an estimated seven thousand deaths over the past thirty years. The design of an area can play a part. There may be narrow passages or other choke points that too many people try to use at once. Professor Steffen says the mood of a crowd can also play a part. For instance, if fireworks are suddenly launched within a football stadium, people can get scared and try to escape. He says organizers of large gatherings need to avoid creating conditions that might lead to panic, stampedes and heat stroke. And he says they must be ready to give medical care. So what advice does he have for people attending a large gathering? First, get any needed vaccinations before traveling. Then, stay away from any large mass of people as much as possible. Also, be careful with alcohol and drugs, which can increase the risk of injuries. And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, available at voaspecialenglish.com with MP3s, PDF files for e-readers and podcasts. You can also find our programs on iTunes. Have you ever been in a huge crowd and worried about your safety? Or did you feel fine? Post a comment on our website and tell us about your experience. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presutti. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 25Jan2012)
IBM Thinks Minds Will Control Machines Within 5 Years
Uploaded by VOALearningEnglish on Feb 20, 2012
This is the VOA Special English Technology Report, from //voaspecialenglish.com | //facebook.com/voalearningenglish
Controlling a device with your mind. Powering your home with the energy of your own activities. These are two of the developments that experts at IBM think will become reality within the next five years. The technology company has released its latest "5 in 5" report. The experts think people will soon be able to control many electronic devices simply by using their minds. Scientists at IBM and other companies are researching ways to do this in a field of science known as bioinformatics. They say people will soon have a way to just think about calling or e-mailing someone in order to make it happen. Bernie Meyerson is IBM's vice president of innovation. He says the idea is for "something with really deep capability so that a person, for instance, a quadriplegic, a paraplegic can actually utilize brainwaves to make things happen and basically run their own lives independently." Another prediction is a way for people to power their homes and offices using energy from activities like walking or running. Still another prediction: passwords could soon become a thing of the past. IBM says developments in biometric technology could soon make passwords unnecessary. Some of the most common biometrics used to identify people are fingerprints, face and voice recognition, and iris scans. The iris is the colored part of the eye. Bernie Meyerson says this technology will soon be more widely used by money machines and other devices. Another prediction from the experts at International Business Machines: better technology to prevent unwanted e-mail. The fifth prediction on IBM's 5 in 5 list is an end to the "digital divide" between those who have technology and those who do not. Bernie Meyerson says: "We anticipate within five years, better than eighty percent coverage of the world's population by cellular to smartphones. At that point, imagine having, for instance, the ability to speak openly with anybody anywhere, anytime and any language -- real time translation. Literally, the old 'Star Trek' idea of the universal translator coming to be, and how the world would change if there were that kind of communication and openness."And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presutti. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 23Jan2012)
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