How much sugar do you really eat? 6 Minute English

‘Improve your English vocabulary and speaking with 6 Minute English from the BBC’ . In this programme, we ask: Do you really know how much of the sweet stuff you eat? Neil and Rob talk about sugar and teach you some tempting new English vocabulary!

To download the audio and a transcript, go to our website:

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝟔 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬:
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𝐕𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲 & 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐏𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬

𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡
like sugary things

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝
any food that has been changed in some way by freezing it, putting it in tins, combining foods or adding chemicals

𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
with a quick look

𝐟𝐚𝐭-𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞
without any fat in it

𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬
do everything you can to avoid it

𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞
make someone or something seem very bad

[Images: GETTY IMAGES]

#BBCLearningEnglish #LearnEnglish #6MinuteEnglish

[osenibalyqees]

-Sweet tooth: To like sugary things
-Processed food: Any food that has been changed in some way either by freezing it or putting it in tins or by combining foods or adding chemicals
-At a glance: With a quick look
-Fat free: Without any fat in it
-Avoid things at all costs: You do everything you can to avoid it
-Demonise: To make someone or something seem very bad

[letsplayroblox]

I ate a lot of sugar today. After eating a sugar i feel like i'm always sleepy and tired. Sugar can change my mood and emotions. When i eat sugar i feel more happier, however after that i feel lost and depressed a little. Scientists say that sugar and sweety candies can make our dophamine higher and when we decide to not eat it we can feel no energy. Thanks BBC. It always helps me😉

[thilenguyen]

This is a my favorite chanel to learn English and get new informations as well. Thank you BBC so much.

[lingkanbiswas]

It is really helpfully for non-native Speakers.

[tammytsang]

Great information! Thanks very much for this podcast,

[itsnothing]

I am not sweet tooth type 😍😍.... This channel is very helpful for English learners like me.... Thank you bbc❤❤

[tranthibichlen]

so useful for English learners! Thank you so much!

[AndyChumPromptLab]

Transcript

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Rob
I’m Rob. Welcome to 6 Minute English – we’ve got a sweet topic today, and six tempting items of vocabulary.

Neil
Hello, I’m Neil. And we’re going to be talking about sugar – which many of us find tempting. But how much is too much, Rob?

Rob
I don’t know, Neil, but hopefully we’ll be finding that out. I must admit though – I have a sweet tooth – and that means I like sugary things!

Neil
Me too. But something I’m always seeing in the news these days is that we’re eating too much sugar. And one important factor is that sugars are sometimes hidden in processed foods.

Rob
Processed food is any food that has been changed in some way – by freezing it or putting it in tins – or by combining foods or adding chemicals. In fact, some of the sugars we eat are hidden in food that we think of as healthy. Such as yoghurts, low fat snacks, and fruit drinks.

Neil
Do you check the information on the back of food packets, Rob? – To see what’s in them?

Rob
Yes, I do. But it can be very confusing – there’s so much information. And I’m not always sure how much of a certain thing is bad.

Neil
Well, that brings me onto today’s quiz question. Can you tell me, if a food contains 5% total sugars per 100g, is it…
a) high in sugar,
b) low in sugar or
c) somewhere in the middle?

Rob
I’ll say low, Neil.

Neil
OK. Well, we'll find out later. Some food products have colour coding on the packaging to help you understand the information, don’t they? – red for high levels of sugar, salt or fat– orange for medium, and green for low.

Rob
That sounds helpful. Then you can see at a glance what’s good or bad for you.

Neil
At a glance means with a quick look. OK, let’s listen now to BBC reporter Rajeev Gupta interviewing a man in Chester, in the UK. He’s asking him to guess how much sugar there is in a pot of fat-free yoghurt.

INSERT
Rajeev Gupta, reporter interviewing a man in Chester
Reporter: I've actually got a pot of yoghurt in front of me. This says 'fat-free' on it and it's been marketed as being quite healthy. If I was to say how much sugar is in here, what would you say as… say is the quantity of the tub?
Interviewee: I’d probably think maybe a couple of teaspoonfuls, you know, it’s quite surprising how much is sugars in all these products, isn’t there?
Reporter: Well, there’s about a third of this yoghurt pot is actually sugar.
Interviewee: To be honest, that’s quite amazing, that. I would never have thought a third of that would have been sugar just by looking at it. And it does say it’s fat-free.

Neil
So the yoghurt is fat-free, which means it doesn’t contain any fat. And the man guessed there might be two teaspoons of sugar in the yoghurt.

Rob
That’s right. And if something is sugar-free then it doesn’t contain any sugar. But in this case, a third of the yoghurt’s content was sugar. That, to me, sounds like an awful lot – even for someone with a sweet tooth like me!

Neil
OK, well, let’s listen to Dr Gunter Kuhnle. He’s a Nutritional Biochemist at Reading University.

INSERT
Dr Gunter Kuhnle, nutritional biochemist at Reading University, UK
One problem we see – nutritionists – is sort of this focusing on any individual foods – at one time it was that fat has to be avoided at all costs, now it seems to go towards sugar and sugar is demonised and people link it to drugs and so on. I think this is the wrong way forward. Individuals, yes, you should have a balanced diet. It is important also to enjoy your food and not do this extreme focusing on one side or one aspect and individual nutrients.

Rob
So if you avoid something at all costs you do everything you can to avoid it. And demonise means to make someone or something seem very bad.

Neil
Dr Kuhnle thinks that totally cutting out one type of food like this – whether it’s fat or sugar – is wrong. He thinks we should eat a balanced diet – and enjoy our food.

Rob
That sounds very sensible. Now, how about telling us the answer to today’s quiz question, Neil?

Neil
Thanks for reminding me, Rob. I asked: if food contains 5% total sugars per 100g, is it… a) high in sugar, b) low in sugar or c) somewhere in the middle? You said low… and you were… right! Well done!

Rob
Thank you.

Neil
If foods contain more than 22.5% total sugars per 100g they are classified as high.

Rob
And I guess that between 5 and 22.5% they are somewhere in the middle.

Neil
Correct! OK, shall we go over the words we heard today?

Rob
Yep. First up – if you have a ‘sweet tooth’ it means you like sugary things. For example, ‘My little nephew has a sweet tooth. He eats far too many biscuits and sweets.’

Neil
His dentist won’t be pleased! Number two – ‘processed food’ is any food that has been changed in some way – by freezing it or putting it in tins – or by combining foods or adding chemicals.

Rob
For example, ‘The meat in sausages is highly processed.’

Neil
Oh dear, I didn’t know that. I’m a big fan of sausages!

Rob
Number three – ‘at a glance’ – means with a quick look.

Neil
For example, 'I could tell at a glance that I wouldn’t like the food at that restaurant.’

Rob
‘Fat-free’ means without any fat in it. For example, ‘I bought this yoghurt because it says fat-free on the label.’

Neil
Aha – but did you realise that a third of it was sugar! Moving on – If you avoid something‘at all costs’ you do everything you can to avoid it. For example, ‘I wanted to win the game at all costs.’

Rob
I didn’t know you were so competitive, Neil! And finally – ‘demonise’ – means to make someone or something seem very bad.

Neil
‘Politicians shouldn’t demonise their opponents.’

Rob
They often do though, don’t they? OK. Well, that’s all we have time for on today’s show. But please check out our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages.

Neil
Join us again soon! Meanwhile, visit our website: bbclearningenglish.com, where you'll find guides to grammar, exercises, videos and articles to read and improve your English. Goodbye!

Rob
Bye!

[its.nataliatru]

i love your videos! very helpful, thank you!

[arminmp]

My dream is living in London and working in bbc as a reporter. from Iran ❤️

[yessidlopez]

Really nice! I love this program, Neil and Rob are excellent teachers!
I also hope listen to Catherine soon here!

[achintyahaldar]

Hi, I like your all your programs ; specially with Neil !!!

[Milan]

I am learning new vocabularies from your show to take an IELTS. So, I would like to ask you question Could you please answer my question? Do you use academic words or informal words in your show? Can I use it in writing section? Thanks! I really appriacite your effort.

[LifeatStJohns]

My daughter has a sweet tooth 🍡🍬🍡🍬🍰🍫🍬🍭🍩

[수처작주-eq]

We'll make our mind to eat proper sugars.
Thanks for your advice.

[Xpert]

Thank you for this sweet video, guys 😎👌

[sabahmomini]

I have a sweet tooth, I eat chocolate every day, and somehow, it has become part of my daily routine .😊

[jakkrapatk]

I have a sweet tooth.
I love sugary drinks.
I have to cut down on Cola.
I want to stay healthy more.

[walahana]

I wish for a quiz after every episode.

[tammytsang]

At a glance, fat-free foods sound healthy but we also need to check out the food label before we buy them.