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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Many products by the largest food firms are considered unhealthy, research shows
Two new reports paint a dismal2 picture of nutrition in the U.S. One finds about 70% of products sold by the largest food companies are unhealthy. Investor3 groups are pushing for change.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Two new reports paint a dismal picture of nutrition in the U.S. One says about 70% of products sold by the largest food companies, including Kraft, Heinz and Kellogg, are considered unhealthy. And that's the food that stocks a lot of U.S. grocery shelves. And new Gallup data shows just how much Americans' diets are lacking. It's not a new problem. But as NPR's Allison Aubrey reports, what is new is the momentum4 for change.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE5: When you walk into a grocery store this time of year, are there certain displays that are hard to miss?
ANNA HERFORTH: Of course - all the Halloween candy.
AUBREY: That's Anna Herforth of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research with Gallup provides a new snapshot of Americans' eating habits. It shows just how many or how few consume the variety of different recommended food groups.
HERFORTH: What we find is it's about 28% of Americans are eating any amount of all of the food groups recommended in the U.S. dietary guidelines.
AUBREY: Even fewer eat the recommended amounts of things like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. For decades now, as diet-related diseases, including obesity6 and diabetes7, have increased, Americans have been told to eat better. The problem is there's a big mismatch between the foods we're told we should eat and the foods that are most abundant and affordable8 on store shelves.
HERFORTH: There's been a long tradition of, you know, putting personal responsibility on individuals to choose a healthy diet. And that's really difficult when you're sort of fighting against the food environment.
AUBREY: It's not just Halloween candy. Researchers at the Access to Nutrition Initiative analyzed9 about 11,000 products from leading food companies, including Kellogg, General Mills, Unilever, Kraft Heinz and Nestle. They found about 70% failed to meet a healthy threshold.
The group's executive director, Greg Garrett, says many companies have pledged to make changes, but so far, he sees little progress.
GREG GARRETT: This is disappointing. This is a disappointing finding after four years of engaging with these food companies that the overall product portfolios10 haven't changed, that they're not healthier than they were.
AUBREY: Many of the companies included in the new report push back. Kraft Heinz, for instance, points to a 40% reduction in sugar in its Capri Sun drinks, which are popular with kids. But critics say incremental11 changes are not enough, not at a time when diet-related diseases are a top cause of death. So to step up the pressure, Greg Garrett and his team want to leverage12 investors13' power to nudge companies to sell healthier foods.
GARRETT: We've been working to build a coalition14 of investors - these are institutional investors - who believe strongly that we need to see change at the highest level.
AUBREY: The pandemic shined a spotlight15 on the impact of diet-related disease. People with diabetes and heart disease were more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID. Now with increased awareness16, Garrett says more investors are interested and putting their money into companies that strive to do better.
GARRETT: We're going to work with our 80 or so investor signatories over the coming years, we hope, to see the chief executives of these companies in the boardrooms enact17 change.
AUBREY: It is easier said than done. But one investor, Lauren Compere18, managing director with an impact investing firm called Boston Common Asset Management, says investors can push for a range of strategies - for instance, linking executives' compensation to the launch and sales of healthy products or nudging companies to prioritize marketing19 of healthy options.
LAUREN COMPERE: You have to look at kind of all those pressure points. And we want to see sort of momentum of companies leaning in to healthier products.
AUBREY: She points to one recent example with Unilever, a U.K.-based company that owns several ice cream brands, including Ben and Jerry's. A coalition of shareholder20 activists21 filed a resolution urging more transparency around the foods Unilever sells. Instead of the company using its own definitions of healthy, Unilever has now agreed to publish independent assessments22. The company also announced new targets earlier this year to increase the proportion of healthier foods it sells.
Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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3 investor | |
n.投资者,投资人 | |
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4 momentum | |
n.动力,冲力,势头;动量 | |
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5 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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6 obesity | |
n.肥胖,肥大 | |
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7 diabetes | |
n.糖尿病 | |
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8 affordable | |
adj.支付得起的,不太昂贵的 | |
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9 analyzed | |
v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析 | |
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10 portfolios | |
n.投资组合( portfolio的名词复数 );(保险)业务量;(公司或机构提供的)系列产品;纸夹 | |
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11 incremental | |
adj.增加的 | |
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12 leverage | |
n.力量,影响;杠杆作用,杠杆的力量 | |
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13 investors | |
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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14 coalition | |
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合 | |
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15 spotlight | |
n.公众注意的中心,聚光灯,探照灯,视听,注意,醒目 | |
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16 awareness | |
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智 | |
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17 enact | |
vt.制定(法律);上演,扮演 | |
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18 compere | |
v.主持(节目) | |
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19 marketing | |
n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西 | |
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20 shareholder | |
n.股东,股票持有人 | |
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21 activists | |
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
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22 assessments | |
n.评估( assessment的名词复数 );评价;(应偿付金额的)估定;(为征税对财产所作的)估价 | |
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