Learning English

Fast food: Bad for the brain?

It's very convenient and often tasty, but is ultra-processed food affecting our brains?

Some health experts are worried. They suggest eating a diet high in processed foods can have a negative effect on older people's mental abilities.

Neil and Beth teach you the vocabulary used in headlines about this story.

Watch the video and complete the activity

NEWS REVIEW PODCAST NOW AVAILABLE - SUBSCRIBE HERE

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about food

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did you like that? Why not try these?

• Late nights: Bad for health?
• Ukraine: A Turning point?
• New UK prime minister

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The story  

Ultra-processed food affects people’s mental abilities.

That’s according to a new study in Australia which found older people were affected negatively by things like fast food and fizzy drinks.

Meanwhile, research in the UK found almost 75% of calories in school lunches come from ultra-processed food.

Health experts have called for there to be a limit on this type of food for schoolchildren.

Key words and phrases

ultra-
extremely

• She’s ultra-serious about becoming a famous singer.
• He’s ultra-sensitive. Any criticism will make him cry. 

cap
limit

• They put a cap on the number of people who can apply.
• There’s a cap on spending this year. 

escape the cycle
get away from a situation which keeps getting worse

• They escaped the cycle of poverty through education.
• It’s hard to escape the cycle of drug addiction.

To do

Try our quiz to test yourself on today's language.

Downloads

You can download the audio and PDF document for this episode.

More

We hope you enjoyed News Review. You can find more episodes here.