Western Diet Bad for Human Health, Environment.

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

The spread of Western eating habits around the world is bad for human health and for the environment. Those findings come from a new report in the journal Nature.

There are ways to solve this diet-health-environment problem. But they will require a change in eating habits. And what we eat can be a product of culture, personal taste, price and ease.

David Tilman is a professor of ecology at the University of Minnesota. In the study, he examined information from 100 countries to identify what people ate and how diet affected health.

David Tilman is a professor of ecology at the University of Minnesota. In the study, he examined information from 100 countries to identify what people ate and how diet affected health.

Mr. Tilman noted a movement beginning in the 1960s. He found that as nations industrialized, population increased and earnings rose. More people began to adopt what has been called the Western diet.

A growing generation of Puerto Rican children struggle with weight gain. (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. April 2007)

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