August 27th, 2010 at 07:27am
Under Health report
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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Rice is an important part of many people’s diets. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts have released a report about rice. It shows that eating white rice increases the risk of type two diabetes. However, eating brown rice reduces the risk of the disease.
The World Health Organization says more than two hundred twenty million people worldwide have diabetes. Type two diabetes results when the body cannot effectively use the sugar it produces.
More than thirty-nine thousand men and one hundred fifty-seven thousand women took part in the study. They were asked about their diet and day-to-day activities, as well as any pre-existing diseases. The study found that the people who ate five or more servings of white rice per week had a seventeen percent increased risk of developing type two diabetes. But those who ate two or more servings of brown rice a week had an eleven percent reduced risk of getting the disease.
Brown rice is the grain in its natural form. White rice results after it has been refined. This involves removing the outer cover, including the husk, bran and germ. Only the inner white kernel is left. White rice is often enriched to replace some nutrients lost during the refining process.
Qi Sun is the lead writer of the report. He says the outer parts of brown rice slow down the work of the body’s digestive enzymes into starch. This means that the release of sugar into the bloodstream is slower after eating brown rice compared to white rice.
A diet of foods that quickly release sugar into the bloodstream has been linked with a greater risk of type two diabetes. The exact reason for this is not known.
Doctor Sun says less refined grains have more nutritional value than refined grains. He says replacing white rice with whole grains like whole wheat or barley could result in a thirty-six percent lower chance of developing type two diabetes. He says people should replace white rice and other refined carbohydrates with whole grains whenever possible.
However, brown rice does not last as long as white rice because of the oil-rich layer of bran. This makes it less usable in poor communities. The International Rice Research Institute is working to develop kinds of white rice whose starch is released more slowly.
And, that’s the VOA Special English Health Report. I’m Steve Ember.
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August 19th, 2010 at 07:02am
Under Health report
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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a life-threatening condition commonly caused by years of smoking. Doctors say that over time the damage interferes with the natural exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs.
COPD is not curable but treatment can extend a patient’s life. Doctors often treat it with steroids. Now, a study shows that low doses of the medicine given by mouth are equal to, or better than, a heavy dose administered into the blood.
Researchers studied patients treated at four hundred hospitals in two thousand six and two thousand seven. The patients received steroids either intravenously or by mouth.
The study found that those who received lower doses of steroids by mouth spent less time in the hospital. Also, their risk of side effects such as glaucoma, high blood pressure and edema, or swelling in the legs, was reduced.
Peter Lindenauer from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, led the study. The findings are in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than two hundred million people have been found to have COPD. Most live in low and middle income countries.
COPD blocks airflow in the lungs. Patients have to think about their breathing. They also have to exercise. And they have to learn to calm themselves, especially when they are short of breath.
SOUND: “Big deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.”
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, as well as asthmatic bronchitis. One sign of it is a wheezing sound when the person breathes. Another symptom is a cough that produces yellow mucus and does not go away.
Miners and chemical workers are at risk of COPD from breathing dust and harmful chemicals. But the most common cause is long-term smoking or years of breathing other people’s smoke.
Francis Welch is a retired dentist, former smoker and now a COPD patient.
FRANCIS WELCH: “I have to think about breathing sixty minutes of every hour. It’s a heck of a nuisance.”
He stopped smoking more than ten years ago. He also persuaded his son to stop.
FRANCIS WELCH: “Until he saw me walking around with a can of liquid oxygen. That got his attention. He finally did smoke, quit smoking, thank God.”
And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, with reporting by Melinda Smith. Transcripts, MP3s and archives of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.
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