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The diets of low-income Americans have worsened in the past decade, even as the diets of the wealthiest Americans have improved, according to a new study that is among the first to measure changes in diet quality over time by socioeconomic status. Overall diet quality in the United States remains poor, said the lead author of the study, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.
在過去的十年間，美國低收入人群的飲食質(zhì)量不斷惡化，但是最有錢的一部分美國人所吃的食物質(zhì)量卻越來越高，從一份最新研究中，我們得知了隨著社會經(jīng)濟地位的變化，不同收入的人群之間的食物質(zhì)量鴻溝是多么的巨大。在這份研究發(fā)表于《美國醫(yī)學會雜志-內(nèi)科學》上的研究中，首席作者認為美國人的總體飲食質(zhì)量依然不容樂觀。
Although the study found that the diet of all Americans improved on average between 2005 and 2010, the progress masked a decline in diet quality among the poor. The result: a doubling of the gap in diet quality between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest.
研究發(fā)現(xiàn)美國人的總體飲食質(zhì)量在2005-2010年有所改善，但是表面的進步卻掩蓋了窮人飲食質(zhì)量的下降。結(jié)果顯示美國最富裕和最貧窮的兩類人之間的食物鴻溝已經(jīng)提升一倍。
The study attributed the change to the higher cost of convenient and healthy meals, as well as limited access to quality supermarkets in some poorer neighborhoods.Frank Hu, a study author and co-director of the Program in Obesity Epidemiology and Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health, cautioned against taking the improvements as a sign that Americans eat well. "This is really almost like an American diet report card," Hu said. "This has the good news that there has been some improvement in overall diet quality, but the report card still doesn't look very good."
研究認為方便健康飲食的成本比以前更高，以及在某些貧民區(qū)超市缺乏高質(zhì)量食物是這種現(xiàn)象出現(xiàn)的原因。哈佛大學公共健康學院肥胖流行病學和預防項目主管之一，也是該研究的作者之一的Frank Hu給出了警告，他警告美國人不要因為總體飲食質(zhì)量有所提高就誤認為人們比以前吃得更健康，他說雖然總體飲食質(zhì)量有所提高，這是好消息，但是美國人的飲食健康成績單看上去依然不理想。
The report comes at a time when the food choices of low-income households are in the national spotlight. Legislators and advocates have suggested restricting what foods can be bought with the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) in an effort to promote health. First Lady Michelle Obama has made healthy diets a central part of her campaign to end childhood obesity. Today two-thirds of Americans of all classes are overweight or obese, with higher rates among the poor.
這個報告發(fā)表于全國都在關(guān)注低收入家庭飲食選擇問題的關(guān)鍵時期。立法機關(guān)和飲食倡議人士都建議對食品券能夠購買的食物種類進行限制，這樣做的目的是提高國民的健康水平。美國第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬也在結(jié)束兒童肥胖的倡議活動中將健康飲食作為核心部分來論述。今天全美2/3兒童(所有階級)超重或肥胖，這個比例在窮人中更高。
Even with the improvements, Americans collectively scored under 50 out of 110 on the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, according to the study.
研究顯示，在滿分為110的替代性健康飲食指數(shù)中，美國的整體人群的得分低于50。
Most of the improvement in the American diet, researchers said, was due to a steady decline in the consumption of trans fats. Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages also dropped, giving a minor boost to overall diet scores. American diets otherwise stayed consistent, with low scores for fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
研究人員說之所以飲食質(zhì)量有所提高，原因是反式脂肪消耗量穩(wěn)步下降。同時，含糖飲料的消費量也有所下降，這兩個因素小幅度地助推了得分。不過美國人在水果、蔬菜以及全谷食品上的得分依舊偏低。
Trans fats have been a target of public policy efforts to improve diet. Last fall the Food and Drug Administration announced it was considering banning the fats in processed foods, a decade after the agency required that trans fats be clearly listed on packaged foods. Federal efforts to promote consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, meanwhile, have largely been confined to education and public service announcements.
反式脂肪一直是改善飲食的公共政策努力的目標。去年秋天美國食品和藥物管理局公開發(fā)表聲明說他們正在考慮禁止加工食物中含有反式脂肪。而十年前管理局要求反式脂肪必須清楚的列在食品包裝袋上。聯(lián)邦政府采取的促進水果，蔬菜和全谷食物消費的努力主要局限于教育和公益廣告。
The study has implications for efforts to improve Americans' diets, particularly among the poor, experts said. "It really speaks to the evidence that if you want to change the American diet, you have to change the policy," said Marlene Schwartz, director for the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.
專家說研究表明美國的，尤其是窮人的飲食質(zhì)量亟需改善。耶魯大學的食品政策與肥胖研究中心主管Marlene Schwartz表示：“已有證據(jù)表明要改變美國人的飲食習慣就要改變政策。”
"Education will only get you so far," she said, noting that education is often most successful for those who can afford to pay for it. Improving diet among the poor, she said, requires "improving the food supply so people can eat what's there and not be exposed to so many dangerous things."
她說，教育主要是對那些能夠買得起高質(zhì)量食物的人有效，僅此而已。想要改善窮人的飲食質(zhì)量，就要改善食品供給的質(zhì)量，使得他們不會買到許多危險的食物。
Jessica Caouette, a nutrition and cooking instructor with Cooking Matters—a national nonprofit—who works with low-income families, echoed that reaction. "All parents are interested in feeding their families healthy meals," she said, but "price is a concern for low-income families."
營養(yǎng)烹飪專家Jessica Caouette就職于旨在服務(wù)低收入家庭的國家非盈利機構(gòu)Cooking Matters，她認為父母都想為家庭提供健康的飲食，但對于低收入家庭來說，價格也是他們考量的因素之一。
A survey of Cooking Matters students from 2012 found that 85 percent said they wanted to eat healthfully but that only half were able to do so. More recently a survey from the food bank umbrella group Feeding America found that nearly 80 percent of its clients bought the cheapest food available even though they knew it wasn't healthy.
2012年一份對Cooking Matters學員的調(diào)查顯示85%的人表示他們希望吃健康食品，但是只有一半的人有能力這么做。最近Feeding America食物銀行組織的一份調(diào)研顯示雖然知道很不健康，但是80%的客戶依然選擇購買他們能買到的最便宜的食品。
The best bet for improving the American diet, Hu said, lies in a broad approach. "Without changing the food environment and food system," he said, "education alone is not going to be very effective."
Hu認為如果食品的大環(huán)境和食品系統(tǒng)不改變的話，單單是提升教育也無法有效提升人們的飲食習慣。
在過去的十年間，美國低收入人群的飲食質(zhì)量不斷惡化，但是最有錢的一部分美國人所吃的食物質(zhì)量卻越來越高，從一份最新研究中，我們得知了隨著社會經(jīng)濟地位的變化，不同收入的人群之間的食物質(zhì)量鴻溝是多么的巨大。在這份研究發(fā)表于《美國醫(yī)學會雜志-內(nèi)科學》上的研究中，首席作者認為美國人的總體飲食質(zhì)量依然不容樂觀。
Although the study found that the diet of all Americans improved on average between 2005 and 2010, the progress masked a decline in diet quality among the poor. The result: a doubling of the gap in diet quality between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest.
研究發(fā)現(xiàn)美國人的總體飲食質(zhì)量在2005-2010年有所改善，但是表面的進步卻掩蓋了窮人飲食質(zhì)量的下降。結(jié)果顯示美國最富裕和最貧窮的兩類人之間的食物鴻溝已經(jīng)提升一倍。
The study attributed the change to the higher cost of convenient and healthy meals, as well as limited access to quality supermarkets in some poorer neighborhoods.Frank Hu, a study author and co-director of the Program in Obesity Epidemiology and Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health, cautioned against taking the improvements as a sign that Americans eat well. "This is really almost like an American diet report card," Hu said. "This has the good news that there has been some improvement in overall diet quality, but the report card still doesn't look very good."
研究認為方便健康飲食的成本比以前更高，以及在某些貧民區(qū)超市缺乏高質(zhì)量食物是這種現(xiàn)象出現(xiàn)的原因。哈佛大學公共健康學院肥胖流行病學和預防項目主管之一，也是該研究的作者之一的Frank Hu給出了警告，他警告美國人不要因為總體飲食質(zhì)量有所提高就誤認為人們比以前吃得更健康，他說雖然總體飲食質(zhì)量有所提高，這是好消息，但是美國人的飲食健康成績單看上去依然不理想。
The report comes at a time when the food choices of low-income households are in the national spotlight. Legislators and advocates have suggested restricting what foods can be bought with the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) in an effort to promote health. First Lady Michelle Obama has made healthy diets a central part of her campaign to end childhood obesity. Today two-thirds of Americans of all classes are overweight or obese, with higher rates among the poor.
這個報告發(fā)表于全國都在關(guān)注低收入家庭飲食選擇問題的關(guān)鍵時期。立法機關(guān)和飲食倡議人士都建議對食品券能夠購買的食物種類進行限制，這樣做的目的是提高國民的健康水平。美國第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬也在結(jié)束兒童肥胖的倡議活動中將健康飲食作為核心部分來論述。今天全美2/3兒童(所有階級)超重或肥胖，這個比例在窮人中更高。
Even with the improvements, Americans collectively scored under 50 out of 110 on the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, according to the study.
研究顯示，在滿分為110的替代性健康飲食指數(shù)中，美國的整體人群的得分低于50。
Most of the improvement in the American diet, researchers said, was due to a steady decline in the consumption of trans fats. Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages also dropped, giving a minor boost to overall diet scores. American diets otherwise stayed consistent, with low scores for fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
研究人員說之所以飲食質(zhì)量有所提高，原因是反式脂肪消耗量穩(wěn)步下降。同時，含糖飲料的消費量也有所下降，這兩個因素小幅度地助推了得分。不過美國人在水果、蔬菜以及全谷食品上的得分依舊偏低。
Trans fats have been a target of public policy efforts to improve diet. Last fall the Food and Drug Administration announced it was considering banning the fats in processed foods, a decade after the agency required that trans fats be clearly listed on packaged foods. Federal efforts to promote consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, meanwhile, have largely been confined to education and public service announcements.
反式脂肪一直是改善飲食的公共政策努力的目標。去年秋天美國食品和藥物管理局公開發(fā)表聲明說他們正在考慮禁止加工食物中含有反式脂肪。而十年前管理局要求反式脂肪必須清楚的列在食品包裝袋上。聯(lián)邦政府采取的促進水果，蔬菜和全谷食物消費的努力主要局限于教育和公益廣告。
The study has implications for efforts to improve Americans' diets, particularly among the poor, experts said. "It really speaks to the evidence that if you want to change the American diet, you have to change the policy," said Marlene Schwartz, director for the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.
專家說研究表明美國的，尤其是窮人的飲食質(zhì)量亟需改善。耶魯大學的食品政策與肥胖研究中心主管Marlene Schwartz表示：“已有證據(jù)表明要改變美國人的飲食習慣就要改變政策。”
"Education will only get you so far," she said, noting that education is often most successful for those who can afford to pay for it. Improving diet among the poor, she said, requires "improving the food supply so people can eat what's there and not be exposed to so many dangerous things."
她說，教育主要是對那些能夠買得起高質(zhì)量食物的人有效，僅此而已。想要改善窮人的飲食質(zhì)量，就要改善食品供給的質(zhì)量，使得他們不會買到許多危險的食物。
Jessica Caouette, a nutrition and cooking instructor with Cooking Matters—a national nonprofit—who works with low-income families, echoed that reaction. "All parents are interested in feeding their families healthy meals," she said, but "price is a concern for low-income families."
營養(yǎng)烹飪專家Jessica Caouette就職于旨在服務(wù)低收入家庭的國家非盈利機構(gòu)Cooking Matters，她認為父母都想為家庭提供健康的飲食，但對于低收入家庭來說，價格也是他們考量的因素之一。
A survey of Cooking Matters students from 2012 found that 85 percent said they wanted to eat healthfully but that only half were able to do so. More recently a survey from the food bank umbrella group Feeding America found that nearly 80 percent of its clients bought the cheapest food available even though they knew it wasn't healthy.
2012年一份對Cooking Matters學員的調(diào)查顯示85%的人表示他們希望吃健康食品，但是只有一半的人有能力這么做。最近Feeding America食物銀行組織的一份調(diào)研顯示雖然知道很不健康，但是80%的客戶依然選擇購買他們能買到的最便宜的食品。
The best bet for improving the American diet, Hu said, lies in a broad approach. "Without changing the food environment and food system," he said, "education alone is not going to be very effective."
Hu認為如果食品的大環(huán)境和食品系統(tǒng)不改變的話，單單是提升教育也無法有效提升人們的飲食習慣。
