C
The spread of Western eating habits around the world is bad for human health and the environment. Those findings come from a new report in the journal Nature.
There are ways to solve this diet-health-environment problem. But they will require a change in eating habits. And what we eat can be a product of culture, personal taste, price and ease.
David Tilman , a professor of ecology, examined information from 100 countries to identify what people ate and how diet affected health and found as nations industrialized, population increased and earnings rose, more people began to adopt what has been called the Western diet.
The Western diet is high in refined or processed sugar, fat, oil and meat. By eating these foods, people began to get fatter -- and sicker.
David Tillman says overweight people are at greater risk for non-infectious diseases like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
Unfortunately when people become industrialized, if they adopt this Western diet, they are going to have these same health impacts, and in some cases if you are Asian, you have them more seriously than what happens in the West."
China, he says, is an example where the number of diabetes cases has jumped. And that’s happening all across the world, in Mexico, Nigeria and so on.
A diet bad for human beings is also bad for the environment. As the world's population grows, experts say more forests will become farmland for crops or grasslands for grazing cattle.
"We are likely to have more greenhouse gas released in the future from agriculture because of this dietary shift than all the greenhouse gas that comes out of cars, airplanes, boats and ships. So our change in diet is likely to be worse for the world for climate warming than all the transportation sources we use right now."
He says one possible solution is leaving the Western diet behind.
What is the main idea of the passage?
A.The advantage of the Western diet |
B.The disadvantage of the Western diet. |
C.The diseases caused by the Western diet. |
D.The popularity of the Western diet. |
Why do more and more people eat Western diet?
A.Because Western diet is good for health. |
B.Because people have more money. |
C.Because Western diet is cheaper. |
D.Because Western diet can make people thin. |
According to the passage, what is good for our environment?
A.Giving up the Western diet. |
B.Returning to Chinese diet. |
C.Growing more crops |
D.Raising more cattle. |
In which section of a newspaper can you find this passage?
A.Science and Technology. |
B.Education and Culture. |
C.Environment and Health. |
D.Agriculture and Climate. |
Which statement is true?
A.The Western diet has little effect on Asians . |
B.The China diet is rich in fat and oil. |
C.Leaving the Western diet behind is easy for people. |
D.More forests will become farmland as the world's population grows . |