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Unit 12
Change the World Basic
A few years ago, an obesity* researcher at the University of Washington-named Adam
Drewnowski ventured into the supermarket to solve a mystery. He wanted to (1) figure out why
(2)poor people were more likely to suffer from obesity in America. Obesity is, as you know, mainly
caused by taking in too many calories. For most of history the poor have typically suffered from a
shortage of calories, not an excess. So why do the people with the least amount of money to spend
on food tend to be overweight today?
目 Drewnowski gave himself a dollar to spend, using it to purchase as many calories as he
possibly could. He discovered that he could buy the most calories per dollar in the middle aisles of
the supermarket, among the towering piles of* processed food and soft drinks.
3 Processed food is, in the broadest sense, any food that is changed from its natural, raw state.
But here, it refers to food which has been chemically changed by using additives* such as flavors,
colors, preservatives*, stabilizers*, etc., or which has been combined with other foods in a
manufacturing process. Generally speaking, if the ingredients* aren't “natural,” then we consider it
to be ( 3 ).
Drewnowski found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of cookies or potato chips, which are
typical processed foods, but only 250 calories of carrots. Looking for something to wash down
those chips, he discovered that his dollar bought 875 calories of soda (a processed food) but only
170 calories of orange juice.
5 As a rule, processed foods are more “energy dense*” than fresh foods: they contain less
water and fiber but more added fat and sugar, which makes them both (4)less filling and more
fattening. 5 These particular calories also happen to be the least healthful ones in the marketplace,
which is why we call the foods that contain them "junk*.” Drewnowski concluded that the rules of
the food game in America are organized in such a way that if you are eating (6) on a budget, the
most rational economic strategy is to eat badly-and get fat.
