English 中文网 漫画网 爱新闻iNews 翻译论坛
中国网站品牌栏目(频道)
当前位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> 新闻播报> Special Speed News VOA慢速

The argument over salt and health

[ 2010-03-05 11:05]     字号 [] [] []  
免费订阅30天China Daily双语新闻手机报:移动用户编辑短信CD至106580009009

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The argument over salt and health

Last month we reported about a study that showed eating even a little less salt could greatly help the heart. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists used a computer model to predict how just three grams less salt a day would affect heart disease in the United States.

The scientists said the results would be 13 percent fewer heart attacks, eight percent fewer strokes, four percent fewer deaths and 11 percent fewer new cases of heart disease. And 240 billion dollars in health care savings. Researchers said it could prevent 100,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths every year.

The researchers were from the University of California, San Francisco, Stanford University and Columbia University.

They and public health professionals in the United States are interested in a national campaign to persuade people to eat less salt. Such campaigns are already in place in Britain, Japan and Finland.

However, some scientists say such a campaign is an experiment with the health of millions of people.

Michael Alderman is among the critics. He is a high blood pressure expert and professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Doctor Alderman says that eating less salt results in lower blood pressure. But he says studies have not clearly shown that lowering salt means fewer heart attacks or strokes.

And he says salt has other biological effects. He says calling for reductions in the national diet could have good effects, but it could also have harmful results. He says there is not enough evidence either way.

Another critic is David McCarron, a nutrition and kidney disease expert at the University of California, Davis. He and his team looked at large studies of diets in 33 countries. They found that most people around the world eat about the same amount of salt. Most of them eat more salt than American health officials advise.

Doctor McCarron says the worldwide similarity suggests that a person's brain might decide how much salt to eat.

Both Doctor McCarron and Doctor Alderman have connections to the Salt Institute, a trade group for the salt industry. Doctor Alderman is a member of an advisory committee. But he says he receives no money from the group. Doctor McCarron is paid for offering scientific advice to the Salt Institute.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Shirley Griffith.

Related stories:

What the world's healthiest people eat

Less salt can mean more life

研究:想对心脏好 像穴居人那样吃饭

Diabetes becomes growing threat for Asians

(来源:VOA 编辑:陈丹妮)

 
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
 

关注和订阅

人气排行

翻译服务

中国日报网翻译工作室

我们提供:媒体、文化、财经法律等专业领域的中英互译服务
电话:010-84883468
邮件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn