experts call it an obesity epidemic and they're talking about normal people

專家稱之為「流行性肥胖」，而討論的對象則是一般人，

like Barry

就像是 Barry 。

Barry is, well let's just say not very happy about his weight

Barry，這樣說好了，對他的體重感到不是很滿意

He already has high blood pressure he starting to worry

他已經有高血壓的症狀，而他也開始擔心

because he's heard that obesity can cause other serious health problems

因為他聽說肥胖除了高血壓外還會導致其他疾病，

like diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer

像是糖尿病、心臟病，甚至是癌症。

Barry wants to eat less salt and lose weight

Barry 想要控制鹽分的攝取並且降低體重

much easier said than done. It's not just a problem of self-discipline

說得比做得容易，這不只是個人意志力的問題。

To plan a healthy diet, Barry needs basic facts about the foods in a supermarket,

為了吃到健康的一餐，Barry 需要知道超市賣的食物裏頭的營養成分

like how much sugar fat and salt they contain

像是含有多少糖或鹽等等。

The British came up with a very good idea. Take a well-known and

有個英國人想出了一個好辦法。用了一種大家都知道而且

easy to understand symbol. They use it on food packages to mark the levels of key nutrients.

簡單易懂的符號(紅綠燈)。把這些顏色印在食物包裝上來標示各種重要營養素的含量。

The amounts are always given per 100 grams

所有的營養素都以每一百公克為單位標示，

making it easy to compare products. The color-coding gets the message across

這讓比較不同牌子的產品更容易了。這種用顏色標註的方式讓

even to children

小孩也能輕鬆理解。

Red is for high levels, amber for medium levels

紅色表示高含量，橘黃色(琥珀色) 表示中等含量，

and green for low levels. For the first time, reliable nutritional facts can be presented

而綠色則表示低含量。首次具有公信力的營養標示出現了。

On the front of packages in a plain and simple way. However

簡單直白地放在包裝的正面。然而，

some retailers and food manufacturers were worried this label may hurt their sales.

有些零售商和食品廠商擔心這種標註方式會損害他們的銷售額。

Why? Well, let's look at this box of cereal

怎麼說呢？看看這盒麥片吧，

Barry's favorite breakfast food. It happens to contain

這是 Barry 最愛吃的早餐。其中含有

more than 35 percent sugar and yet it's called

超過35%的糖分，然而上面卻標示著

fitness fruits, giving it an eye-catching high-sugar label

「健康食品」，如果在上面擺上一個顯眼的「高糖」標籤

would destroy advertising allusions.

就會破壞整個廣告暗示。

So, Tesco Nestle in company came up with their own labeling system

所以，Tesco Nestle 公司研發了一套他們自己的標籤方式

to pull the plug on traffic light: The guideline daily amounts,

來取代紅綠燈標示法：建議每日攝取量。

a mixture complicated numbers and percents

是個複雜數字和百分比的綜合體。

What happens when our friend Barry finds this GDA label on his fitness fruits?

當親愛的 Barry 在他的健康麥片上看到這個 GDA 標籤時會怎麼想？

He reads it contains

他會看到這盒麥片裡

fourteen-point one grams of sugar per serving

每一份(一餐份量)有14.1 克的糖

and this is only 16 percent of the recommended daily amount for

而這只是每日建議量的 16%，

mmm... an average middle age woman.

嗯...... 對於一個一般中年婦女來說。

Then, Barry discovers that the numbers are actually based on a serving size a 40 grams.

然後 Barry 會發現這個數字(14.1克)是基於一份 40 克的基準算出來的。

That's certainly much less than he needs every morning.

這比他平常早餐要吃的量少得多了。

Checking out other cereal boxes, Barry finds many different portion sizes.

看看其他牌子的麥片盒，Barry 發現各種不同的單位基準。

So basically he needs a calculator to figure out whether

因此基本上，他得帶著個計算機才能算出

other cereals are healthier than his fitness fruit. That's why consumers and

哪些麥片比他原本吃的來得更健康。這就是為什麼消費者和

health organizations are speaking out in favor of color-coded labeling.

衛生機構大力支持顏色標籤方式的原因。

With traffic light labels,

有了紅綠燈標示法，

Barry can compare products at a glance and choose the healthiest.

Barry 就可以一眼看出各種產品有什麼不同，然後選出其中最健康的。

Now the choice is up to the politicians. The proposed

現在這個提議已經進入正式立法表決，

EU legislation for not only make GDA-type labeling mandatory.

希望歐盟的立法機關能不讓 GDA 成為強制性的單一標準。

It would actually prohibit member states from requiring traffic light labels

因為這將會在實質上使歐盟成員國無法使用紅綠燈標籤方式。

on a national level. We believe this must not be allowed to happen.

我們相信這是不應該發生的。

For Barry and for all the other consumers out there,

對 Barry 和其他消費者來說，

traffic lights color your food for information.

紅綠燈法用顏色幫你分類了各種食物的資訊。