Food and Health
The food we eat seems to have profound effects on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has, at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to diet and forty percent of cancer is related to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more prone to contract certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. That food is related to illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, government researchers realized that nitrates and nitrites, commonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic additives remain in our food, and it becomes more difficult all the time to know which things in the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and poultry, and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cows. Sometimes similar drugs are administered to animals not for medicinal purposes, but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.
我們所吃的食物似乎對我們的健康有深遠(yuǎn)的影響。 盡管科學(xué)上已取得許多進(jìn)展，使食物更適合我們食用，但與此同時(shí)它也使許多食物不宜食用了。 一些研究已經(jīng)表明，人類大概有 80%的疾病與飲食有關(guān)，40%的癌癥，特別是結(jié)腸癌，也與飲食有關(guān)。 不同的文化會使人們更易患某些疾病，這是由這些文化的人們喜好的食物所致。 食物與疾病有關(guān)并不是新發(fā)現(xiàn)。 1945 年，政府部門的科研工作者了解到，被廣泛用于肉類以保持肉類色澤的硝酸鹽、亞硝酸鹽和其他的添加劑可誘發(fā)癌癥。 可是這些致癌物質(zhì)依然存在于我們的食物之中。 與此同時(shí)，要想知道加工食品標(biāo)簽上的哪些成分對健康有利，哪些成分對健康不利，變得更加困難了。 我們吃到的這些添加物并非都是如此直接的。 農(nóng)民常給牛和家禽注射青霉素，因而在受過注射的牛所產(chǎn)牛奶里發(fā)現(xiàn)青霉素。 有時(shí)讓家禽服用這類藥物并非是為了治病，而是為了經(jīng)濟(jì)上的緣故。 農(nóng)民們只是想使家畜長得更肥壯可以上市場上賣到好價(jià)錢。 雖然食物和藥品管理局已一再設(shè)法控制這種情況的發(fā)生，但是這種行為仍在繼續(xù)。