VOA慢速英語：世界健康組織支持糖類飲料增加稅收

The World Health Organization says the widespread use of sugar in food products and drinks is a major concern in many areas. So WHO officials are calling on governments to require taxes on sugary drinks in an effort to limit their usage and popularity.

世界健康組織表示：大范圍的在食物和飲料中使用糖是很多年來一直關心的主要問題。所以，世界健康組織政府官員要求在糖類飲料上增加稅收，力爭控制糖類的普遍使用。

The officials believe the taxes also would reduce the risk of health problems resulting from obesity.

官方相信稅收能夠減少造成肥胖問題的風險。

Obesity is a condition in which the body stores large, unhealthy amounts of fat. Obese individuals are considered overweight.

肥胖是身體存儲了大量的不健康的脂肪。肥胖的人被認為是超重的。

A new report says that in 2014 more than one-third of the adults in the world were overweight, and 500 million were considered obese.

最近的報告顯示2014年全球超過1/3的成年人是超重的，5億人被認為是肥胖的。

The United Nations agency estimates that in 2015, 42 million children under age 5 were either overweight or obese. It says that number represents an increase of about 11 million during the past 15 years. Almost half of these boys and girls live in Asia and one-fourth in Africa.

聯(lián)合國機構預估在2015年，4200萬五歲以下兒童過早的超重或者是肥胖。這表明了在近15年內(nèi)該數(shù)字上升了1100萬。近半成的亞洲男孩女孩，還有1/4的非洲人。

The U.N. agency blames unhealthy diets for a rise in diabetes cases. There are 422 million cases of the disease worldwide. WHO says 1.5 million people die from it every year. It says the use of sugar in food products, like sugary drinks, is a major reason for the increase in rates of obesity and diabetes.

聯(lián)合國機構指責不健康的飲食是導致糖尿病病例上升的原因。全球有4.22億的病例。世界健康組織表示每年150萬的人死于該疾病。也表明了糖類在食品加工中的使用，比如糖類飲料，是肥胖和糖尿病上升的主要原因。

Temo Waqanivalu is with the agency’s Department for the Prevention on Non-Communicable Diseases. He told VOA that taxing sugary drinks would reduce consumption and save lives.

Temo Waqanivalu與該組織部門一起預防非傳染性疾病。他告知VOA對糖類飲料征稅能夠減少非傳染性疾病和挽救生命。

“If we increase the tax and that gets passed on to the consumers resulting in a 20 percent increase in price, you are more likely to get a 20 percent reduction in the consumption. In addition, you will be more likely to achieve the ultimate health outcome we are aiming for, which is the reduction in obesity and diabetes.”

“如果我們增加稅收，這樣就會轉嫁給消費者，導致價格上升20%，你們就很可能較少20%的非傳染性疾病的風險。另外，你將更有可能的達到最終健康的目標，這將減少肥胖和糖尿病。”

Waganivalu noted that Mexico enacted a 10 percent tax on sugary drinks in 2014. He said by the end of the year, there was a 6 percent drop in the consumption of such drinks. Among poor people, the number of people who consumed sugary drinks dropped by 17 percent.

Waganivalu 指出2014年，墨西哥在糖類飲料上制定了10%的稅。他表示，在年末，糖類飲料的消耗在年末下降了6%。在窮人中，糖類飲料的消耗量下降了17%。

The WHO report says China has more obese people than any other country -- 43 million men and 46 million women. The United States is home to almost 42 million obese men and 46 million women who are obese.

世界健康組織表示中國比任何國家都擁有更多的肥胖的人4300萬的男人和4600的女人。美國有近4200萬肥胖男性和4600萬名女性肥胖。

The WHO says people should limit the amount of sugar they consume. It says they should keep their sugar intake to below 10 percent of their total energy needs, and reduce it to less than 5 percent for improved health.

世界健康組織表示人們應該控制消耗的糖類的總量。應該保持總能量的需求中的10%的糖類的攝取，并且較少到5%以下來改善健康。

It warns people to be careful in their calculations because sugar is everywhere.

警告人們仔細計算，因為糖無處不在。

I’m Marsha James.

瑪莎·詹姆斯報道。