By the 1980s, doctors, federal health experts, the food industry     1     the news media were reporting that a low-fat diet could benefit everyone, even though there was no solid evidence     2     doing so would prevent heart disease, obesity and other health     3     (issue).

As a result, said Vijaya Surampudi,     4     assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, many people and food manufacturers replaced calories from fat     5     calories from refined carbohydrates (碳水化合物) such as white flour and added sugar.

In reality, not all fats are bad.     6     certain types, such as trans fats (反式脂肪), can increase your risk for heart disease or stroke, healthy fats help reduce your risk,       7     include monounsaturated fats (单不饱和脂肪酸) (found in olive oil and certain nuts and seeds) and polyunsaturated fats (多不饱和脂肪酸) (found in sunflower oil, walnuts, fish and flaxseed). Good fats are also important for supplying energy, producing important hormones, supporting cell function and aiding in the     8     (absorb) of some nutrients.

If you see a product     9     (label) “fat free,” don’t     10     (automatic) assume it is healthy, Dr Surampudi said. Instead, prioritize products with simple ingredients and no added sugars.

Why would someone decide not to eat? We know that the body needs food     1     (function) well. However, many people fast at some time during their lives. Why is this?

Some people fast for political reasons. Mohandas Gandhi, the famous Indian leader, fasted 17 times during his life. For Gandhi, fasting was a powerful political tool. Fasting is also a     2     (spirit) practice in many religions. Every year during the month of Ramadan,     3     is a religious holiday, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Many Hindus fast     4     special occasions,     5     do some Christians and Buddhists.

Of course not everyone fasts for political or religious reasons. Some people     6     (occasion) fast just because     7     makes them feel better. The American writer Mark Twain thought fasting was the best medicine for common     8     (ill). Another American writer, Upton Sinclair, discovered fasting after years of overeating, indigestion, and headache. His first fast lasted for 12 days. During this time, his headaches and stomachaches went away. Sinclair said that fasting also made him more alert and energetic.

    9     (choose) to go without food can be very dangerous. However, that doesn’t stop people     10     (fast) for political, religious, or health reasons.

4 . A research model of dietary intake in 184 countries, developed by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, estimates that poor diet contributed to over 14.1 million cases of type 2 diabetes (糖尿病) in 2018, representing over 70% of new diagnoses globally. The analysis, which looked at data from 1990 and 2018, provides valuable insight into which dietary factors are driving the burden of type 2 diabetes in the world region.

Of the 11 dietary factors considered, 3 had an outsized contribution to the rising global incidence of type 2 diabetes: insufficient intake of whole grains, excesses of refined (精制的) rice and wheat, and the overconsumption of processed meat. Factors such as drinking too much fruit juice and not eating enough non-starchy vegetables, nuts, or seeds, had less of an impact on new cases of the disease.

“Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type2 diabetes globally, and with important variation by nation and over time,” said senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition. “These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes.”

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the resistance of the body’s cells to insulin (胰岛素). Of the 184 countries included in the Nature Medicine study, all saw an increase in type 2 diabetes cases between 1990 and 2018, representing a growing burden on individuals, families, and healthcare systems.

The analysis revealed that poor diet is causing a larger proportion of total type 2 diabetes incidence in men versus women, in younger versus older adults, and in urban versus rural residents at the global level. Regionally, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, particularly in Poland and Russia, where diets tend to be rich in red meat, processed meat, and potatoes, had the greatest number of type 2 diabetes cases linked to diet.

8 . Food choice has become a dangerous pursuit. Nutritional horrors are on every shelf. Ready-meals are packed with salt and preservatives (防腐剂), breakfast cereals are sweeter than chocolate bars, and processed meats are packed with preservatives, which can form harmful compounds when cooked. A new term is catching on to describe these nutritional bad guys: ultra-processed foods (UPFs). In his new book, “Ultra-Processed People”, Tulleken, a doctor and television presenter, argues that UPFs dominate the food supply in rich countries, and are also getting into diets in low and middle income countries. As they multiply, so do concerns about their effects on human health. Just how bad are UPFs, and what do they do to us?

UPFs were first put forward by Monteiro, a Brazilian scientist, in 2009. His team of nutritionists observed that although people in Brazil were buying less sugar and oil, rates of obesity were rising. That was because they were instead eating more sugar, fat and additives in packaged snacks and pre-made meals. In response, Chirs Wood, a scientist and dietitian, proposed a food classification system to take into account the degree of processing involved in the food supply.

Processing can make healthy foods unhealthy: fruit, for instance, goes from healthy to unhealthy as it is squeezed or sweetened. UPFs often go through many complex industrial processes. Most contain a blend of artificial ingredients, plenty of salt and sugar, and few nutrients. Finally, some UPFs are more akin (类似) to industrial products than food.

Eating UPFs has also been linked to poor health. Another study by Carlos in 2019 found an association between intake of UPFs and overall risk of some diseases, which affect the brain, such as strokes. It showed that eating fewer UPFs was linked with lower risk of a number of cancers. A UPF-heavy diet also seems to affect health in a range of ways. That said, there is plenty of evidence linking many ingredients in UPFs, such as sugar, salt, and saturated fats, to negative health outcomes.

9 . Returning home from my university on a hot day, I longed for a cold sugary drink. I rushed to the fridge to ______ one, sat on my sofa and ________ playing with my mobile phone. That was where I ________ an ad for some burgers and fries. I decided to order because I was ________ and needed some ________ to finish my to-do list for the day.

I didn’t know at that point that eating this type of highly processed food would make me feel lazier, sleepier—and ________ my whole life in a harmful way.

I had moved away from home in 2021, when I was 18, to ________ my education. It was my first time living without my family and ________ myself independently. I was out of my comfort zone and felt ________. There were so many things to do, so I paid little attention to my ________ because eating highly processed food seemed the quickest and ________ thing to do.

About 4 weeks after moving away from home, I continued ________ whatever I wanted, until one day my stomach hurt so badly that I could ________ walk. My doctor told me it was the ________ of all the unhealthy food I had been eating. He suggested I make an effort to eat a healthy and ________ diet that gave me all the right nutrients.

10 . Fast food chains have tried for years to appeal to customers who care about their health. They have added lighter food to their menus, such as salads and yogurt. Of course, the lighter food goes with the usual burgers, fried chicken and shakes.

Menus have changed over the past three decades. According to a recent study, fast food menus are less healthy than they were 30 years ago. The study suggests the problem is getting worse. The fat, salt content and size of fast food meals are the problem. They are often the reason for the rising obesity (肥胖) rate among adults in the United States. The researchers found that the average main dish weighed more in 2016 than in 1986. It also had more calories and more sodium (钠). One expert said, “The restaurants have not done enough. The big picture is that there have been some positive changes, but they are small. Overall, the changes have gotten worse.”

The average fast food dessert had more calories in 2016. It also weighed more than the average fast food dessert thirty years earlier. Restaurants are counting on bigger sundaes and cookies to increase the amount spent on each order. For example, McDonald’s recently introduced “donut sticks” dusted with sugar. Six sticks have 280 calories. But you can also order 12 sticks for less than the cost of two single orders.

The researchers found that, over the 30 years, there were more calories in items like chips, soup, and French fries. Sodium content rose even though portion(一份) size did not grow much. When consumed together as a single meal, the study found that the average main dish and side order account for nearly 40 percent of a 2000-calory daily diet.