周二3 /26 1. 繽紛櫻花 2. 糖飲料殺手

周二聚會 3/26

時間: 每周二晚上7:00~9:30

地點: 怡客咖啡 Ikari Coffee

新北市板橋區文化路2段311號

板南線江子翠捷運站2號出口旁

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2013年3月26日將討論兩主題---

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Topic1.  繽紛櫻花 Topic2. 糖飲料殺手

 

繽紛櫻花
Cherry blossom season to kick off (By Lee Hsin-Yin)
  

Wuling Farm in Taichung said some of its trees are already in bloom

Taipei, Jan. 16 (CNA) Many resort areas in Taiwan have reported that their cherry trees are in bud and are anticipating hordes of visitors during the Lunar New Year holiday, resort operators said Wednesday.

Wuling Farm in Taichung, central Taiwan, said some of its trees are already in bloom, adding that the popular scenic area expects to see hectic travel inquiries from the following day, when the farm will start offering tickets for the Feb. 10-March 5 period.

As many as 100,000 tourists packed the area each day during the last Lunar New Year holiday, creating massive traffic jams that took eight hours to clear in a single 8-km stretch.

To prevent similar chaos this year, the farm said a daily tourist capacity of 5,000 people will be set during the cherry blossom season, with traffic controls imposed on part of Provincial Highway No. 9, the main gateway to the park.

In the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village in central Taiwan, a cherry blossom festival will kick off Feb. 1, banking on its recent recognition as a "famous cherry blossom site" by the Japan Cherry Blossom Association.

"We are very proud of the flamboyant, extravagant cherry flowers that can only be found in the park," said Village Manager Richard Huang.

Huang explained that its 5,000 cherry trees, a hybrid strain of the endemic Taiwanese cherry and the Japanese Yae-sakura, will be decorated with lights for the first time to emulate the Japanese tradition of "yosakura," or cherry blossom-watching at night.

In northern Taiwan, cherry blossoms can be found at Wulai and in Sanzhi Township in New Taipei from late January, according to the city government.

 

Questions:

1. Why do people like cherry blossoms so much?

2. Do you enjoy lovely cherry blossoms?

3. Do you like flowers? What is your favorite?

4. Where are good places to appreciate beautiful cherry blossoms ?

5. What outdoor activities do you like to do during the spring season?

6. Do you enjoy outdoor activities like camping, hiking or fishing?

  

糖飲料殺手
consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases

a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and lead author of the study presented today at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

Singh and colleagues spent five years putting the pieces together. Using data from national health surveys around the world, the team tied sugar-sweetened beverages to 133,000 deaths from diabetes, 44,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 6,000 deaths from cancer in 2010.

The study adds to mounting evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages, loaded with calories that carry little nutritional value, are a public health hazard.

“I think our findings should really impel policymakers to make effective policies to reduce sugary beverage consumption since it causes a significant number of deaths,” said Singh, adding that she thinks “cause” is an appropriate word despite the limitations of the association study.

The American Beverage Association criticized the study, which has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, calling it “more about sensationalism than science.”

“It does not show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer – the real causes of death among the studied subjects,” the industry group said in a statement. “The researchers make a huge leap when they take beverage intake calculations from around the globe and allege that those beverages are the cause of deaths which the authors themselves acknowledge are due to chronic disease.”

The study comes one week after a judge blocked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on supersized sodas, and one day after Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill preventing municipalities from setting limits on soda and salt content.

Questions:

1. What are the health effects of drinking soda and sugary drinks?

2. Why sugary drinks are really bad for us?
3. Do you know how much sugar you're eating?
4. Do you have a sugar addiction?
5. Ways to reduce obesity?
6. Do you know any other harmful foods to health?

新北櫻花季　
新北櫻花季 , 櫻花 , 賞櫻 , 天元宮 , 新北群櫻會
淡淡三月天，除了可欣賞杜鵑花，還能賞櫻，新北市汐止、烏來、三芝、石碇、淡水等地方都成了賞櫻的好景點。新北市府還在臉書設置了「賞花快報」紡絲專業，隨時提供及時的賞花快報訊息，雖然已經到了3月下旬，天氣也漸漸暖起來，新北櫻花季仍然熱鬧的進行中。
新北市政府去年的「新北櫻花季」活動，整合新北市各賞櫻景點，吸引百萬的賞花人次，今年的「新北群櫻會」更在臉書設立「賞花快報」，提供即時的櫻花開花資訊，免得遊客撲空，敗興而歸。而且去賞花民眾還能當起「櫻花記者」，隨時將櫻花美照上傳到活動官網，就能參加比賽抽獎，。
而由於賞花人潮眾多，有些熱門景點實施交通管制，像是淡水天元宮所在的淡水分局，到3/31花期以前彈性實施車輛總量管制，北新路兩側劃設紅線禁止停車。建議民眾賞花多搭乘大眾運輸工具；開車遊客則多利用賞櫻替代道路，免得大塞車壞了賞花興致。
除了新北市櫻花季，阿里山櫻花季也已經在3/15展開，花季期間也時實施交管。
 

驚！含糖飲料每年致18萬人死亡
(華人健康網)

市面上含糖飲料多得數不清，早餐配奶茶、午餐後買杯飲料，幾乎已成為許多人飲食必備的部分，縱然有許多研究都指出含糖飲料容易對健康造成負面影響，大多數人還是難以抵抗。不過，近日美國哈佛大學的調查更有驚人發現，小小一杯汽水或飲料，竟可能是造成全球每年18萬人死於糖尿病、心臟病等疾病的因素。

含糖飲料不僅喝多易胖，甚至調查也發現是全球近20萬人的死亡關聯因素。根據美國《時代》（TIME）網站報導指出，哈佛大學公共衛生學院（Harvard School of Public Health）在美國心臟學會（American Heart Association）的會議上發表了這項調查結果，研究人員調查數據後發現，在全球每年13萬3千起糖尿病、4萬4千起心臟疾病、6千起癌症病例中，其中有高達78%的死亡病例都有過量攝取含糖飲料，等同於全球每年約有18多萬人的死因恐與含糖飲料有關。此外調查也發現，全球9大區域中，以拉丁美洲和加勒比海地區與含糖飲料有關的糖尿病死亡人數最多；心臟疾病死亡數最多的是在俄羅斯東部與中部。而墨西哥則是含糖飲料消耗量最大的國家，在每1百萬人中有約318人的死因與糖飲有關，而反觀糖飲攝取量最低的日本，相關死亡率每1百萬人中僅有10人，也是全球最低。
數月前，美國神經學學會曾在針對20多萬人所做的研究分析中發現，一天喝到4杯飲料的人，憂鬱症的程度會比一般人高出30%；另外，紐約市原本為了抵抗肥胖，也定在今年3月起實施餐廳禁售大杯含糖飲料，雖然這項政策目前暫時停擺，不過也顯示了含糖飲料對於慢性病、肥胖人口確實有嚴重影響。