People eat more when they are glued to the television, and the more entertaining the program, the more they eat, according to a new research.

It seems that distracted(分心的)brains do not notice what the mouth is doing, said Dr Alan Hirsch, neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. Hirsch explored the effect of smell, taste and eating behaviors while watching TV by measuring the number of potato chip eaten.

Forty-five volunteers ate as many chips as they wanted while they watched programs by late- night talk show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno. They were also given chips to eat when the television was off. Hirsh found people ate an average of 44 percent more chips while watching Letterman and 42 percent more while viewing Leno, than when they did not watch TV.

“If you can concentrate on how the food tastes you’ll eat less because you’ll feel full faster,” Hirsch said in an interview all the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Toronto. “So if that’s the case, let’s look at the opposite. What if you’re distracted? If you’re distracted, in theory then , eat more.”

Through his research at the foundation, Hirsch has helped people overcome the loss of sense and taste sensation, which typically results in weight gain became the brain does not know when it should stop eating.

The ventromedial nucleus(腹内侧核)in the hypothalamus(丘脑下部)where the so-called satiety (饱足)center is located, tells the body whether it is hungry or full. If it is stopped tricked the result can be changed in eating patterns, he said,“People who cook spaghetti all day don’t feel like eating spaghetti at the end of the day,” said Hirsch. “By being exposed to a smell all day long it’s tricking the hypothalamus.”

Volunteers were asked to concentrate on the sensory characteristics of the food such as taste and smell. Researchers say these sensory taste and smell, in addition to internal body changes, signal satiety. But when distracted, a person does not pay attention to either the body’s sensations of feeling full, or to the sensory characteristics of the food.

Many studies have linked obesity to watching television and that link is likely due to inactivity. But perhaps entertaining shows are also contributing. “If you want to lose weight, turn off the television or watch something boring,” Hirsch said.

Food is extremely important to us human beings and rice is one of the main food in the world. Australian researchers have discovered a way to genetically engineer rice which would provide significant health benefits to more than half the world’s population.

A study undertaken at the University of Tasmania, published in a respected journal of the National Academy of Sciences, discovered a method to increase the resistant starch (抗性淀粉）content in rice, making it more digestible and leading to lower rate of diabetes (糖尿病）and overweight.

Steven Smith, the lead author of the study and a foreign expert for the Chinese government who has been appointed to work on crop improvement projects by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said increasing the higher resistant starch content gave this “designer” rice many added health benefits. “We have discovered that we can increase the amount of resistant starch in cooked rice, which could provide health benefits for a large number of people in Asia and beyond,” Smith said in a media release on Friday. “The same approach can be adapted for use in other cereals, including wheat. Not only can it have benefits for diabetes and obesity, but also for disorders of the bowel(肠）including cancer.”

Rice is the main food for more than half the world’s population, providing much of the world with most of their calories. Smith said that as the rate of diabetes and obesity in Asian countries continued to grow, his “designer” rice could provide a way to limit health problems.

“Not only does resistant starch reduce the possibility of a ‘sugar hit’ but it also reduces the appetite and promotes the growth of the healthy germs.” Smith said.

Smith divides his time between the University of Tasmania and his research lab in Beijing where he hopes to make significant advance in sustainable (可持续的）living.

Not long ago, people could only buy organic food in small shops. Today it is common in most major supermarkets. The reason for the increase is that more and more people are demanding food grown without chemicals. Since the 1990s, organic farm production has gone up 20 percent every year. This pattern is expected to continue around the globe.

Australia leads the world in land used for organic agriculture. It has four times as much land devoted to organic farming as all of Asia. However, most of the land is not very fertile, and it only produces a modest amount of food. Argentina is a distant second, followed by Brazil, the United States and China. In Africa, only a very small amount of land is registered for organic farming. That does not mean Africa relies on chemicals. In fact, many farmers do not use chemicals because they cannot afford them. Yet there are no programs for these farmers to prove they do not use chemicals. Without these programs their food can never be approved organic.

India has had the most dramatic recent increase in organic farming. Like many other countries, India sees continual growth in organic food sales around the world. This, of course, leads to growth in profits. Sales of organic food were more than doubled from 2000 to 2005. Like India, many countries are trying to increase commercial organic farming to get a share of the sales. This has led to criticism. Some people believe that organic farming should not just be about making money. They think the goal is to help the environment. Others say organic farming will not continue if it is not profitable. They say that people should be able to make money while providing food that is healthy to mankind.