If you’ve ever eaten a free doughnut (甜甜圈) on the first Friday in June, you’ve celebrated the Doughnut Lassies — whether you realized it or not. National Doughnut Day was established to honor the Salvation Army volunteers who fried sugary snacks for World War I soldiers on the front line.

When the US entered World War I in 1917, the Salvation Army, a charity organization, sent about 250 volunteers (who were mostly women) to France, where the American army was stationed. The plan was to bring treats and supplies as close to the front line as possible. But the closer the volunteers got to the action, the fewer resources they could access.

Margaret Sheldon and Helen Purviance were credited with bringing doughnuts to the Wester Front. They had a handful of ingredients, including flour, sugar, animal fats, baking powder and canned milk. Doughnuts were one of the few sweet foods they could make without an oven, and once they had a fire hot enough to heat the oil, they could fry them up fast. The women had the pan to cook them in, but for other parts, they had to get creative. For example, grape juice bottles became rolling pins (擀面杖) when necessary.

Sheldon and Purviance’s pan could fit seven doughnuts at a time, and on day one, they made just 150 doughnuts for the group of 800 men. The soldiers even fought over a doughnut. Then they made some changes to their operation, and eventually made 5,000 doughnuts a day. The snacks were so popular that the volunteers earned the nickname “Doughnut Lassies”, while the soldiers they served were nicknamed “Doughboys”.

The Doughnut Lassies’ impact didn’t end with World War Ⅰ. The American soldiers’ experiences overseas made doughnuts a commonly eaten food for them back home.

We all know that drinking too much is bad for us, but what about moderate (适度) drinking?

We’ve known about the relationship between moderate drinking and good health for quite some time. Researchers have identified that people who drink a moderate amount are at a lower risk of things like heart disease and fatness than both people who drink a lot and people who never drink. It’s fairly well-established that if you look at society at large, people who drink a moderate amount are the healthiest in a number of ways.

The problem is that moderate drinking isn’t an isolated behavior (孤立的行为). You can’t easily separate moderate drinking from the people who drink moderately, which means that you can’t easily identify whether it’s actually the alcohol (酒) that’s improving people’s health or something else.

The issue is pretty obvious when you look at the people who drink moderately in all of these studies. They tend to be more educated, smoke less and in general are better off than both people who drink a lot and those who never drink. People who never drink are also different in a lot of ways, for example, illness, poverty (贫穷), and previous alcoholism.

Recent studies in Israel and New Zealand show that there probably aren’t any significant health benefits of moderate drinking. Once you get rid of the effects of society, even a small amount of drink is connected to worse health.

It seems that moderate drinking probably isn’t good for our health after all. While there may be some minor heart health benefits, alcohol is addictive (使人成瘾的) and causes damage to many other organs.

I’m going to keep drinking, but not for my health. Wine is delicious and beer is just wonderful. Drink for the taste, drink to socialise, but don’t drink because you think it’s going to heal your heart. But if possible, try to drink less.

If you’ve ever eaten a free doughnut (甜甜圈) on the first Friday in June, you’ve celebrated the Doughnut Lassies- whether you realized it or not, National Doughnut Day was established to honor the Salvation Army volunteers who fried sugary snacks for World War I soldiers on the front line.

When the US entered World War I in 1917, the Salvation Army, a charity organization, sent about 250 volunteers (who were mostly women) to France, where the American army was stationed. The plan was to bring treats and supplies as close to the front line as possible. But the closer the volunteers got to the action, the fewer resources they could access.

Margaret Sheldon and Helen Purviance were credited with bringing doughnuts to the Wester Front. They had a handful of ingredients, including flour, sugar, animal fats, baking powder and canned milk. Doughnuts were one of the few sweet foods they could make without an oven, and once they had a fire hot enough to heat the oil, they could fry them up fast. The women had the pan to cook them in, but for other parts, they had to get creative. For example, grape juice bottles became rolling pins (擀面杖) when necessary.

Sheldon and Purviance’s pan could fit seven doughnuts at a time, and on day one, they made just 150 doughnuts for the group of 800 men. The soldiers even fought over a doughnut. Then they made some changes to their operation, and eventually made 5,000 doughnuts a day. The snacks were so popular that the volunteers earned the nickname “ Doughnut Lassies”, while the soldiers they served were nicknamed “Doughboys”.

The Doughnut Lassies’ impact didn’t end with World War I. The American soldiers’ experiences overseas made doughnuts a commonly eaten food for them back home.