Pre-Reading Questions:
- Do you eat fruits and vegetables?
- Do you take vitamins?
Vocabulary:
- supplement /SUHP-luh-ment/
- balanced diet /BAL-uhnst DAHY-it/
- examine /ig-ZAM-in/
- quantity /KWON-ti-tee/
- lifetime /LAHYF-tahym/
[noun] a medicine that contains substances that you need to stay healthy
My doctor asked me to stop taking food supplements.
[noun] a balanced diet is a combination of the correct types and amounts of food
She decided to have a balanced diet to lose weight.
[verb] to look at or consider a person or thing carefully and in detail
The doctors examined his rare disease.
[noun] the amount or number of something, especially that can be measured
I found a large quantity of food inside her room.
[noun] the period of time during which someone lives or something exists
She doesn’t want to spend her lifetime with someone who hates her.
A new study from the Annals of Internal Medicine said that the nutrients from supplements do not improve one’s health. The researchers examined the data of 30,000 U.S. adults who take supplements and found out that more than 3,600 people died during the study period.
The study showed that food supplements did not lower the risk of early death. People who took calcium supplements had a 53% chance of dying from cancer while those who took vitamin D had a higher chance of dying.
Researchers think that having the right quantities of nutrients makes one’s lifetime longer. It is still better for a person to eat a balanced diet that contains fruits and vegetables, rather than relying on food supplements.
True or False:
- The researchers examined the data of 30,000 Japanese adults.
- Having the right amount of nutrients doesn’t add to one’s lifetime.
- The study found that food supplements increase the risk of early death.
- There were less than 3,600 people who died during the study period.
- People who took calcium supplements had a 55% chance of dying from cancer.
Vocabulary Check:
Complete the sentences by using the words in the box.
| supplement | balanced diet | examine | quantity | lifetime |
- Please maintain a _______ for your health.
- The doctor will _______ the new project.
- I usually take food _______after I eat.
- There are a lot of changes that could happen in a _______.
- Do not eat a large _______of food, it’s not good for your stomach.