Sugar and Diet / Women and Diabetes / Preparing for a Flu Pandemic

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2004-9-6

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob
Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. On our
program this week: writing new dietary guidelines for Americans.

VOICE ONE:

And, preparing for the next influenza pandemic.

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VOICE TWO:

Americans are expected in January to get new advice from the
government about what to eat and what to avoid. The Department of
Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture publish
a report every five years. It contains nutritional information and
guidelines for the public on diet and physical activity.

The report is based on the work of the Dietary Guidelines
Advisory Committee. This group has just come out with its advice for
the two thousand five version of the guidelines.

The committee says its findings support the development of
dietary guidelines that express messages such as: "Control calorie
intake to manage body weight." "Be physically active every day."
"Increase daily intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and
non-fat and low-fat milk and milk products." And, "Choose fats
wisely for good health."

VOICE ONE:

The list also includes: "Choose carbohydrates wisely for good
health." The committee noted that this represents a major change.
For the first time, the list does not say anything directly about
sugar. Carbohydrates include the different sugars that people and
nature use to sweeten foods. For more than twenty years, the dietary
guidelines have directly advised Americans to limit their amount of
sugar.

The government will accept comments on the report through
September twenty-seventh.

The advisory committee provides explanations and scientific
arguments for each message in its full report. Sugars are discussed
in the part about carbohydrates.

Most people do not read the full report. The dietary guidelines,
however, often appear in schools, health centers and other places.
They are also used to develop educational guides.

A commentary in the New York Times criticized the change. It
noted that some of the experts on the committee have ties to the
food industry. The newspaper said it is difficult to imagine that
the change was not the result of influence by the sugar industry.

VOICE TWO:

The Sugar Association said in a statement that it was pleased
with the work of the committee. The industry group says the new
messages recognize the importance of energy balance. This is the
idea that people should not get more calories than they need to meet
their energy requirements. The Sugar Association says the new
guidance provides a "more helpful message" by not singling out
individual nutrients.

VOICE ONE:

But the committee does say there are reasons for people to limit
their intake of sugars and syrups added to food. It says a reduced
intake of added sugars may help control weight gain and make sure
other food needs are met.

Health officials say two-thirds of Americans are overweight or
obese. The committee says that while more research is needed, a
number of studies suggest a link between sugar-sweetened drinks and
weight gain.

One of those studies appeared in the Journal of the American
Medical Association shortly before the committee released its
report.

VOICE TWO:

The study dealt with the effects of sugar-sweetened colas and
other soft drinks. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public
Health, Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital
did the study.

They studied information provided by more than ninety thousand
women. This information was collected between nineteen ninety-one
and nineteen ninety-nine. The women answered questions two times
each year about their food intake.

The researchers say those who drank high levels of
sugar-sweetened drinks were more likely to gain weight and develop
diabetes. Some of the women had increased their level of sugary
drinks to one or more per day during the eight-year period. The
researchers say these women gained an average of almost eight
kilograms. Other women had decreased their level to one or no sugary
drinks per day. On average, these women gained less than three
kilograms.

VOICE ONE:

The doctors note that weight gain is a major cause of type two
diabetes. This form of the disease usually appears in adults.

The study compared women who drank more than one sugar-sweetened
soft drink a day with those who drank less than one a month. The
women who drank more were reported to have over an eighty percent
higher risk of diabetes than the other women.

There were also findings about women who drank sugar-sweetened
fruit drinks. The study says women who drank these every day were
two times as likely to develop diabetes as those who drank less than
one a month.

VOICE TWO:

Doctor Meir [mare] Stampfer at the Harvard School of Public
Health says sugary soft drinks cause a sharp increase in blood
sugar. He says this causes the body to produce more insulin, and
that causes the sugar levels to go down. He describes the process as
a recipe for diabetes, a disease where insulin production weakens.

The researchers say diet drinks and unsweetened fruit juice did
not appear to cause an increased risk of diabetes.

Doctor Stampfer says it is easier to gain weight from calories in
drinks than in foods. He says drinks sweetened with sugar or
high-fructose corn syrup are high in calories, but do not satisfy
hunger. When people do not feel full, they often take in more
calories than their bodies need. The researchers says soft drinks
are the leading way that Americans get added sugar.

VOICE ONE:

The American Beverage Association criticized the study. This
trade group recently changed its name from the National Soft Drink
Association. It says to blame any one food or drink for increasing
the risk of diabetes is "scientifically indefensible."

It says most published medical literature does not list sugar
intake as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. A spokesman for the
group says a careful reading of the study shows that an unhealthy
lifestyle increased the risk for the women. The study found that the
women who drank the most soft drinks were generally less physically
active and more likely to smoke. They also generally ate less well
than those who drank the fewest sugary drinks. For example, they ate
less protein and grain.

The association says the study provides no evidence to support
the idea that sugar-sweetened drinks are a cause of type two
diabetes. On the issue of weight gain, it says there is no proven
link between increased sugar intake and obesity.

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VOICE TWO:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Faith
Lapidus.

Public health officials in the United States say they want to be
ready in the event of another influenza pandemic. Pandemics are
times when diseases spread throughout the world. Three influenza
pandemics took place in the twentieth century. The most recent was
in nineteen sixty eight. Last month the Department of Health and
Human Services proposed a plan. It is called the "Pandemic Influenza
Response and Preparedness Plan."

Possible measures include actions like closing schools,
restricting travel and keeping infected people away from others. The
plan also proposes major federal research to create different kinds
of flu viruses in order to study them. Experts say such efforts
could reduce the time needed to produce new vaccines.

One fear is that bird flu could develop the ability to spread
between people and start a pandemic. Researchers with support from
the National Institutes of Health aim to develop a vaccine against
avian influenza. Tests are to begin this winter.

The most deadly flu pandemic known struck in nineteen eighteen.
As many as fifty million people may have died from the so-called
Spanish flu.

VOICE ONE:

Officials announced the pandemic readiness plan on August
twenty-sixth. That same day, the vaccine maker Chiron announced that
some of it flu vaccine did not pass final inspection for purity.
Chiron is one of the two major producers of flu vaccine in the
United States. The company said it would halt shipments until more
tests were done.

The company is based in California. It produces vaccine at a
factory in the British city of Liverpool. Chiron was to release as
many as forty-eight million doses of vaccine in September. Now, the
company says it expects that will not happen until October.

Health officials say they still expect to be able to meet the
needs of the public this flu season. Doctor Julie Gerberding is
director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She
noted there have been vaccine delays in the past. The other major
supplier, Aventis Pasteur, aims to increase its supply to help make
sure there is enough flu vaccine this winter.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Caty Weaver and Nancy
Steinbach. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. To send us e-mail, write
to special@voanews.com. This is Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news
about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.