Big Sugar’s Secret Ally? Nutritionists

来源：https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/opinion/sunday/big-sugars-secret-ally-nutritionists.html

Ally/ə'laɪ/N-COUNTIf you describe someone as your ally, you mean that they help and support you, especially when other people are opposing you. 盟友

The first time the sugar industry felt compelled /kəm'pɛl/ to “knock down reports that sugar is fattening/'fætnɪŋ/,” as this newspaper put it, it was 1956. Papers had run a photograph of President Dwight D. Eisenhower sweetening /'switnɪŋ/ his coffee with saccharin /'sækərɪn/, with the news that his doctor had advised him to avoid sugar if he wanted to remain thin.

PHRASEIf you feel compelled to do something, you feel that you must do it, because it is the right thing to do. 感到必须 (做某事

compel  /kəm’pɛl/ V-TIf a situation, a rule, or a person compels you to do something, they force you to do it. 迫使

fattening/‘fætnɪŋ ADJFood that is fattening is considered to make people fat easily. (食物) 易使人长胖的

sweetening /'switnɪŋ/

* v. 使…变甜（sweeten的ing形式）；加糖于…

sweeten /‘switn/

* vt. 减轻；使变甜；使温和；使悦耳

* vi. 变甜

* saccharin /'sækərɪn/

* n. [有化] 糖精；邻磺酰苯甲酰亚胺

The industry responded with a national advertising campaign /kæm'pen/ based on what it believed to be solid science. The ads explained that there was no such thing as a “fattening food”: “All foods supply calories and there is no difference between the calories that come from sugar or steak or grapefruit /ˈɡrepˌfrut/ or ice cream.”

grapefruit /ˈɡrepˌfrut/

* n. 西柚；葡萄柚；葡萄柚树

More than 60 years later, the sugar industry is still making the same argument, or at least paying researchers to do it for them. The stakes/stek/ have changed, however, with a near tripling/'tripliŋ/ of the prevalence/ˈprɛvələns/ of obesity /oˈbisɪti/ in the intervening/ˌɪntɚ'vinɪŋ/ decades/AmE ˈdɛkeɪd/ and what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures reveal to be an almost unimaginable 655 percent increase in the percentage of Americans with diabetes/ˌdaɪə'bitiz/ diagnoses/ˌdaiəɡ'nəusi:z/. When it comes to weight gain, the sugar industry and purveyors /pɚˈveɚ/ of sugary beverages/'bɛvərɪdʒ/ still insist, a calorie is a calorie, regardless/rɪ'ɡɑrdləs/ of its source, so guidelines ['ɡaɪdlaɪn] that single out sugar as a dietary/'daɪə,tɛri/ evil are not evidence-based.

stakes/stek/

* n. 赌注；风险（stake的复数）；利益

* v. 用桩支撑；以…打赌（stake的第三人称单数）

* tripling/'tripliŋ/ADJTriple means consisting of three things or parts. 三个的; 三部分的 [ADJ n]

*  obesity /oˈbisɪti/

* n. 肥大，肥胖

* prevalence/ˈprɛvələns/

* n. 流行；普遍；广泛

* intervening/ˌɪntɚ'vinɪŋ/

* adj. 介于中间的

* v. 介入（intervene的ing形式）

* purveyors /pɚˈveɚ/

* n. 承办商；伙食承办商；供应粮食者；供应货物或提供服务的人或公司

* beverages/'bɛvərɪdʒ/

* n. 饮料

* single out

* 挑出；挑选

* dietary/'daɪə,tɛri/

* n. 规定的食物；饮食的规定；食谱

* adj. 饮食的，饭食的，规定食物的

* evidence-based 基于证据。

Surprisingly, the scientific consensus /kən'sɛnsəs/ is technically in agreement. It holds that obesity is caused “by a lack of energy balance,” as the National Institutes of Health website explains — in other words, by our taking in more calories than we expend /ɪk'spɛnd/. Hence, the primary/'praɪmɛri/, if not the only, way that foods can influence our body weight is through their caloric /kə'lɔrɪk/ content.

consensus /kən'sɛnsəs/

1. 共识

2. 一致

3. 一致同意

4. 一致的意见

5. expend /ɪk'spɛnd/

6. vt. 花费；消耗；用光；耗尽

7. caloric /kə'lɔrɪk/

8. adj. 热量的；卡的

9. n. 热量

Another way to say this is that what we eat doesn’t matter; it’s only how much — just as the sugar industry would have us believe. A 2014 article in an American Diabetes Association /ə,soʃɪ'eʃən/ journal phrased /frez/ the situation this way: “There is no clear or convincing/kən'vɪnsɪŋ/ evidence that any dietary/'daɪə,tɛri/ or added sugar has a unique or detrimental/ˌdɛtrɪ'mɛntl/ impact relative to any other source of calories on the development of obesity or diabetes.”

Association /ə,soʃɪ'eʃən/

* n. 协会，联盟，社团；联合；联想

* phrased /frez/

* vt. 措词, 将(乐曲)分成乐句

* convincing/kən'vɪnsɪŋ/

* adj. 令人信服的；有说服力的

* v. 使相信；使明白（convince的现在分词）

* detrimental/ˌdɛtrɪ’mɛntl/

* adj. 不利的；有害的

* n. 有害的人（或物）；不受欢迎的求婚者

The absence/'æbsns/ of evidence, though, as the saying goes, is not necessarily /ˌnɛsə'sɛrəli/ evidence of absence. If the research community had been doing its job and not assuming /əˈsumɪŋ/ since the 1920s that a calorie is a calorie, perhaps we would have found such evidence long ago.

absence/'æbsns/

* n. 没有；缺乏；缺席；不注意

* assuming /əˈsumɪŋ/

* adj. 傲慢的；不逊的；僭越的

* v. 假设（assume的ing形式）

The assumption/ə'sʌmpʃən/ ignores decades of medical science, including much of what has become textbook endocrinology/ˌɛndokrə'nɑlədʒi/ (the science of hormones/'hɔ:məun/ and hormone-related diseases) and biochemistry音 /'baɪo'kɛmɪstri/. By the 1960s, researchers in these fields had clearly demonstrated that different carbohydrates/ˌkɑrbo'haɪdret/, like glucose  /‘ɡlukos/ and fructose/ˈfrʌkˌtos/, are metabolized /mɛ'tæbəlaɪz/ differently, leading to different hormonal /hɔr'monl/ and physiological/ˌfɪzɪə'lɑdʒɪkl/ responses, and that fat accumulation and metabolism were influenced profoundly/prə'faʊndli/ by these hormones. The unique composition/ˌkɑmpə'zɪʃən/ of sugar — half glucose, half fructose — made it a suspect of particular interest even then.

assumption/ə'sʌmpʃən/

* n. 假定；设想；担任；采取

* endocrinology/ˌɛndokrə'nɑlədʒi/

* n. 内分泌学；内分泌科

* hormones/'hɔ:məun/

* n. [生理] 激素；荷尔蒙；性激素；荷尔蒙制剂（hormone的复数）

* biochemistry音 /'baɪo'kɛmɪstri/

* n. 生物化学

* 生物化学过程

* carbohydrates/ˌkɑrbo'haɪdret/

* n. [有化] 碳水化合物；[有化] 糖类

glucose  /‘ɡlukos/

* n. 葡萄糖；葡糖（等于dextrose）

* fructose/ˈfrʌkˌtos/

* n. [有化] 果糖；左旋糖

* metabolized /mɛ'tæbəlaɪz/

* vt. 使新陈代谢；使变形

* vi. 新陈代谢

* profoundly/prə'faʊndli/

* adv. 深刻地；深深地；极度地

* composition/ˌkɑmpə'zɪʃən/

* n. 作文，作曲，作品；[材] 构成；合成物；成分

* even then

* 即使那样

* 尽管那样

* 边…都

* 傍晚

The takeaway /'tekə'we/ is that we should expect the consumption/kən'sʌmpʃən/ of different macronutrients/ˌmækro'nʊtriənt/ to have differential effects on the hormonal milieu/mi'ljɜː/ of our cells and so, among myriad/ˈmɪriəd/ other things, on how much fat we accumulate. These effects may be very subtle/'sʌtl/, but subtle effects can accumulate over a few years or decades into the anything-but-subtle phenomena of obesity and diabetes. In light of this research, arguing today that your body fat responds to everything you eat the exact same way is almost inconceivably/ˌinkən'sivəbli/ naïve/naɪ'iv/.

takeaway /'tekə'we/

1. 拿走

2. consumption/kən'sʌmpʃən/

3. n. 消费；消耗；肺痨

4. macronutrients/ˌmækro’nʊtriənt/

5. n. [生化] 大量营养素；[生化] 常量营养元素；大量养料

6. milieu/mi'ljɜː/

7. n. 环境；周围；出身背景

8. myriad/ˈmɪriəd/

9. adj. 无数的；种种的

10. n. 无数，极大数量；无数的人或物

subtle/'sʌtl/

* adj. 微妙的；精细的；敏感的；狡猾的；稀薄的

But don’t blame the sugar industry for perpetuating /pɚ'pɛtʃuet/ this view. Blame the researchers and the nutrition authorities /ɔ:'θɔritis/.

perpetuating /pɚ'pɛtʃuet/

* vt. 使不朽；保持

* adj. 长存的

authorities /ɔ:'θɔritis/

* n. 当局，官方（authority的复数）

The industry is in a perverse/pɚ'vɝs/ position: defending the core beliefs of nutrition and obesity research while simultaneously /saɪməlˈtenɪəslɪ/ being accused /ə'kjuzd/ by some of the prominent/'prɑmɪnənt/ experts in these disciplines of following the tobacco-industry playbook /'pleɪbʊk/ and so acting as “merchants of doubt/daʊt/.” If this sounds like cognitive/'kɑɡnətɪv/ dissonance/'dɪsənəns/ — well, it is.

perverse/pɚ'vɝs/

* adj. 堕落的，不正当的；倔强的；违反常情的

* simultaneously /saɪməlˈtenɪəslɪ/

* adv. 同时地

* accused /ə’kjuzd/

* n. 被告

* adj. 被控告的

* v. 指责；控告（accuse的过去式）

* prominent/'prɑmɪnənt/

* adj. 突出的，显著的；杰出的；卓越的

* playbook /'pleɪbʊk/

* n. 剧本

* cognitive/'kɑɡnətɪv/

* adj. 认知的，认识的

* dissonance/'dɪsənəns/

* n. 不一致；不调和；不和谐音

I am a fierce /fɪrs/ critic of sugar and believe that it, in fact, may have prematurely killed more people than tobacco. The disorders for which it is the prime /praɪm/ suspect — obesity and Type 2 diabetes — in turn elevate/ˈɛləˌvet/ our risk of virtually /ˈvɚtʃuəli/ every major chronic/'krɑnɪk/ disease, from heart disease to cancer and Alzheimer’s. And yet on this issue, I think the sugar industry has a fair point in rejecting the comparison/kəm'pærɪsn/.

fierce /fɪrs/

* adj. 凶猛的；猛烈的；暴躁的

prematurely /ˌpriməˈtjʊrlɪ/

* adv. 过早地；早熟地

* prime /praɪm/

* adj. 主要的；最好的；基本的

* adv. 极好地

* n. 初期；青年；精华；全盛时期

* vt. 使准备好；填装

* vi. 作准备

* elevate/ˈɛləˌvet/

* vt. 提升；举起；振奋情绪等；提升…的职位

* virtually /ˈvɚtʃuəli/

* adv. 事实上，几乎；实质上

* chronic/'krɑnɪk/

* adj. 慢性的；长期的；习惯性的

* comparison/kəm'pærɪsn/.

* n. 比较；对照；比喻；比较关系

Cigarette /'sɪɡərɛt/ companies are notorious/no'tɔrɪəs/ for having worked to undermine /'ʌndɚ'maɪn/ the scientific consensus on tobacco, which was backed by compelling evidence. Tobacco executives knew as well as public health officials /o'fɪʃəl/ that nicotine was addictive and that smoking caused lung cancer. But the evidence implicating /'ɪmplɪket/ sugar as a unique cause of chronic disease has never been nearly so convincing. More to the point, the consensus among nutrition and obesity authorities has been completely aligned with sugar industry interests: Sugar advertisers have had to remind people only that what nutrition authorities believe to be true of all foods is therefore true of sugar as well.

notorious/no’tɔrɪəs/

* adj. 声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的

undermine /'ʌndɚ'maɪn/

* vt. 破坏，渐渐破坏；挖掘地基

officials /o'fɪʃəl/

* adj. 官方的；正式的；公务的

* n. 官员；公务员；高级职员

* implicating /'ɪmplɪket/

* vt. 使卷入；涉及；暗指；影响

So can we really blame sugar companies for seeking to rebut/rɪˈbʌt/ the contention /kən'tɛnʃən/ of some nutrition researchers — that sugar might be a unique cause of diabetes and heart disease — by commissioning /kə'miʃəniŋ/ other mainstream nutritionists to make the opposite ['ɔpəzit, -sit] case? In the 1970s, when the industry paid Fred Stare, founder of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, to exonerate/ɪɡ'zɑnəret/ sugar in a lengthy/'lɛŋθi/ journal supplement /'sʌplɪmənt/, “Sugar in the Diet of Man,” all Mr. Stare had to do was enlist /ɪn'lɪst/ as authors some of the very influential /ˌɪnflu'ɛnʃl/ researchers who were convinced that dietary fatwas/'fɑt,wɑ/ the real enemy (the conventional wisdom of the time that has now been largely overturned). No confusion needed to be sown/son/. Their task was simply to reinforce the consensus.

rebut/rɪˈbʌt/

* vt. 反驳；揭露；拒绝

* vi. 反驳；揭露

* n. 驳回；提出反证

* n. (Rebut)人名；(法)勒比；(英)雷巴特

* contention /kən’tɛnʃən/

* n. 争论，争辩；争夺；论点

* commissioning /kə'miʃəniŋ/

* n. 试车；试运转

* v. 委任；命令；委托制作（commission的ing形式）

* exonerate/ɪɡ’zɑnəret/

* vt. 使免罪

lengthy/'lɛŋθi/

* adj. 漫长的，冗长的；啰唆的

* supplement /'sʌplɪmənt/

* vt. 增补，补充

* n. 增补，补充；补充物；增刊，副刊

* enlist /ɪn’lɪst/

* vi. 支持；从军；应募；赞助

* vt. 使入伍；征募；谋取…的赞助或帮助

* fatwas/'fɑt,wɑ/

* n. 法学家的裁决

* sown/son/

* vt. 播种（sow的过去分词）

“The method of science,” as the philosopher /fə'lɑsəfɚ/ of science Karl Popper once put it, “is the method of bold conjectures /kən'dʒɛktʃɚ/ and ingenious/ɪn'dʒinɪəs/ and severe/sɪ'vɪr/ attempts to refute /ri'fjʊt/ them.” In nutrition, the conjectures (their boldness /'bəuldnis/ is debatable /dɪ'betəbəl/) are that obesity is caused by lack of energy balance, and so a calorie is a calorie. But they have been accepted with such faith that attempts to refute them have been anything but ingenious and severe. That the attempts have failed may speak more to the quality of the science than the validity /və'lɪdəti/ of the conjectures. To fully understand the dangers of consuming sugar, we need experiments, in humans, that can unambiguously /ˌʌnæm'bigjuəsli/ test these 100-year-old conjectures. No matter how time consuming or expensive these studies are.

philosopher /fə’lɑsəfɚ/

* n. 哲学家；哲人

* conjectures /kən'dʒɛktʃɚ/

* n. 推测；猜想

* vi. 推测；揣摩

* vt. 推测

* ingenious/ɪn'dʒinɪəs/

* adj. 有独创性的；机灵的，精制的；心灵手巧的

* severe/sɪ'vɪr/

* adj. 严峻的；严厉的；剧烈的；苛刻的

* refute /ri'fjʊt/

* vt. 反驳，驳斥；驳倒

* boldness /'bəuldnis/

* n. 大胆；冒失；显著

* debatable /dɪ'betəbəl/

* adj. 成问题的；可争论的；未决定的

* validity /və'lɪdəti/

* n. [计] 有效性；正确；正确性

* unambiguously /ˌʌnæm'bigjuəsli/

* adv. 不含糊地；明白地；单意义地

To the sugar industry, the nutritionists’ dogmatic /dɔɡ'mætɪk/ belief that obesity is a calorie overconsumption problem and a calorie is a calorie has been the gift that keeps on giving. So long as nutrition and obesity authorities insist that this is true, then the sugar industry can rightfully /ˈraɪtfəlɪ/ defend its product on the basis that the calories from sugar are no better nor worse than those from steak or grapefruit or ice cream — perhaps even kale/kel/ or quinoa/'kinwɑ/. We can’t have it both ways.

dogmatic /dɔɡ'mætɪk/

* adj. 教条的；武断的

So long as 只要

rightfully /ˈraɪtfəlɪ/

* adv. 正当地；正直地

* kale/kel/

* n. [植] 羽衣甘蓝；蔬菜汤

* quinoa/'kinwɑ/ 藜麦

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[Sentence]

There is no clear or convincing/kən'vɪnsɪŋ/ evidence that any dietary/'daɪə,tɛri/ or added sugar has a unique or detrimental/ˌdɛtrɪ'mɛntl/ impact relative to any other source of calories on the development of obesity or diabetes

Their task was simply to reinforce the consensus.