NEWS OF THE DAY News 12. Hidden Calories from Corn Contribute to Obesity.

[NUKE209]

 [NEW WORDS]

  ♧ contribute to A : A에 기여하다, 원인이 되다

  ♧ coincide with A : A와 동시에 일어나다, 일치하다

  ♧ obsession : n. 망상, 강박관념, 집념

  ♧ consequence : n. 결과, 귀결

  ♧ abundance : n. 풍부, 다수, 다량, 부유

  ♧ process : v. 가공하다, 처리하다

  ♧ shelf : n. 진열대, 선반  pl. shelves

  ♧ penny : n. 푼돈, 잔돈

  ♧ derive : v. 끌어내다, 얻다

  ♧ sweetener : n. 감미료

  ♧ fructose : n. 과당

  ♧ take over : v. 대신하다, 인계하다, 인수하다

  ♧ pretzel : n. 일종의 비스킷, 짭짤한 술안주

  ♧ notion : n. 견해, 관념, 개념

  ♧ epidemic : n. 유행(병), 전염(병)

  Our series this week on obesity coincides with a summit meeting that ABC News and TIME megazine are sponsoring in Williamsberg in Virginia on Thursday. On ABC and in TIME this week, you will see that obesity is an obsession with a lot of serious people who have the public health in mind. There's a great deal about it that we are learning. For example, the unintended consequences of subsidizing America's farmers, who are already the most efficient in the world. We are learning that abundance can be an enemy.

  Most of the corn in our diets is hidden. Much of it is fed to animals and turned into meat. Most of the rest is processed into thousands of products which you can see in huge numbers on every supermarket shelf.

  If you want to see more directly how farm subsidies are connected to obesity, there is no better place than your local theater. The popcorn you eat here is made with subsidized corn. "Want to buy popcorn?" "Sure. No problem."

  Popcorn is so inexpensive that the bag it comes in costs more than the popcorn. That's why you can buy the mega-size for a few pennies more. The oil they cook it in is subsidized too, so is the oil they put on top. That is not usually butter, but subsidized vegetable oil. And there's corn in the soda, a corn-derived sweetener called high fructose corn syrup. Since the 1970s, its use has gone up more than more than 4,000 percent. Subsidized corn sweetners, which have pretty much taken over from sugar, are in candy, pretzels and some hot dogs too.

  Here's something else to know about obesity. Americans consume nearly three times more corn in the form of corn sweeteners than they do in every other form.

  "Corn is the principle source of sweeteners in the American diets. So, what these subsidies do is to lower the cost of ingredients that go in processed foods. Particularly high-calorie processed foods. And they make those foods cheaper."

  The corn growers reject the notion that subsidies are contributing to the obesity epidemic. They and the processed food industry argue that a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle are matters of personal responsibility.