Imagine eating everything delicious you want – with none of the fat. That would be great, wouldn’t it?

New "fake fat" products appeared on store shelves in the United States recently, but not everyone is happy about it. Makers of the products, which contain a compound called olestra, say food manufacturers can now eliminate fat from certain foods. Critics, however, say the new compound can rob the body of essential vitamins and nutrients and can also cause unpleasant side effects in some people. So it’s up to consumers to decide whether the new fat-free products taste good enough to keep eating.

Chemists discovered olestra in the late 1960s, when they were searching for a fat that could be digested by infants more easily. Instead of finding the desired fat, the researchers created a fat that can’t be digested at all.

Normally, special chemical in the intestines（肠）"grab" molecules of regular fat and break them down so they can be used by the body. A molecule of regular fat is made up of three molecules of substances called fatty acids.

The fatty acids are absorbed by the intestines and bring with them the essential vitamins A, D, E and K. When fat molecules are present in the intestines with any of those vitamins, the vitamins attach to the molecules and are carried into the bloodstream.

Olestra, which is made from six to eight molecules of fatty acids, is too large for the intestines to absorb. It just slides through the intestines without being broken down. Manufacturers say it’s that ability to slide unchanged through the intestines that makes olestra so valuable as a fat substitute. It provides consumers with the taste of regular fat without any bad effects on the body. But critics say olestra can prevent vitamins A, D, E and K from being absorbed. It can also prevent the absorption of carotenoids（类胡萝卜素）, compounds that may reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, etc.

Manufacturers are adding vitamins A, D, E and K as well as carotenoids to their products now. Even so, some nutritionists are still concerned that people might eat unlimited amounts of food made with the fat substitute without worrying about how many calories they are consuming.

A food service app is allowing customers to buy restaurant food at a low price before it goes into the waste bin.

Too Good To Go provides buyers with a bag of nearly wasted, but perfectly good food for takeaways as a way to cut food waste and help support the restaurant industry. 【小题1】 The app is one of the several winners of Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas Award, which reports that 40% of the food in America is wasted.

【小题2】 However, it's possible to know how many meals the app has prevented from going there. Originally sold only in a few selected American cities, 200,000 meals have been sold. 【小题3】 And over 1,500 restaurants have signed up in cities like New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. At present, 150,000 orders are going out the door per day in 15 countries. 【小题4】

It is also easier for the restaurants since it's nearly impossible to guess and predict what will be available at the end of any night. Decomposing（分解）food in landfills is a major source of methane（甲烷）, which can cause climate—related damage before completely decomposing after a decade. “We think we can save more than 2 million meals from the trash in the U.S. in 2021. 【小题5】” said Lucie Basch, co-founder of Too Good To Go.

A warm drink of milk before bed has long been the best choice for those who want a good night’s sleep. But now a study has found it really does help people nod off—if it is milked from a cow at night.

Researchers have discovered that “night milk” contains more melatonin(褪黑激素), which has been proven to help people feel sleepy and reduce anxiety.

The study, by researchers from Seoul, South Korea, involved mice being fed with dried milk powder that made from cows which are milked both during the day and at night.

Those who are given night milk, which contained 10 times the amount of melatonin, were less active and less anxious than those who are fed with the milk which is collected during daytime, according to the study published in The Journal of Medicinal Food.

Night milk quickened the start of sleep and caused the mice to sleep longer.

While the effect of cow milk which is harvested at different time has not been tested on humans up to now, taking melatonin drugs has been suggested to those who are struggling to fall asleep at night.

Previous studies have also indicated that milk can be excellent for helping sleep because of the calcium content, which helps people to relax.

Milk is also sugar-free and additive-free(不含添加剂) with nutritionists recommending skimmed milk as the best choice before bed because it is the least fattening. The more fat you take in before bedtime, the greater burden you will put on your body at night.