B2CEFRReading18 min

Reading: Nutrition and Ultra-Processed Foods

Diet, nutrition and ultra-processed food

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How to use this lesson

👨‍🏫 For the Teacher

Guide students through the reading passage and set an 18-minute timer for the ten questions.

Check the answers together and discuss how the author softens claims with words like seems and suggests.

👩‍🎓 For the Learner

First, read the title and skim paragraphs A to D to see how the numbers connect together.

Next, work through each question carefully and confirm every single answer with the exact words from the text.

Helpful tip: Notice how writers say things gently when they are not completely sure. For instance: "You can choose either rice or pasta with the fish." Look out for words like seems or suggests in paragraph D.
IELTS Academic Reading • Passage

Diets, Numbers and Processed Food

A

According to the World Health Organization, everyone older than 10 should eat at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables a day. In the UK, the National Health Service promotes this goal through its "5 A Day" advice. Under this guidance, one portion is defined as 80 g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit or vegetables.

B

The World Health Organization also gives clear numeric targets for other parts of the daily diet. For adults, the organization recommends keeping daily salt intake below 5 g a day. In addition, free sugars, which are sugars added to food and drinks, should make up under 10% of the energy people take in each day.

C

In 2019, the US National Institutes of Health carried out a study on ultra-processed food. Researchers observed 20 adult volunteers for a month, placing them on an ultra-processed diet for 2 weeks and on an unprocessed diet for 2 weeks. On the ultra-processed diet, participants consumed about 500 more calories a day and gained 0.9 kg, or 2 pounds, on average. However, this was a small study.

D

These facts seem to show that health advice can be given as clear numbers, and I think the NIH study suggests that the kind of food can change how much people eat. Still, the facts here do not show how ultra-processed food affects people over many years.

Questions 1–3

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the reading passage?

YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1. The writer believes that official dietary advice can be successfully expressed as specific numerical targets.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

2. The findings of the 2019 study reveal how ultra-processed foods impact human health over several decades.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

3. Most adults find it significantly harder to limit their sugar intake than to restrict their salt intake.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

Questions 4–5

The reading passage has four paragraphs, A–D. Which paragraph contains the following information?

4. the specific quantity that constitutes an individual serving of produce

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

5. a recorded increase in physical body mass observed during a feeding trial

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

Questions 6–7

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

6. What limitation of the 2019 NIH investigation is explicitly acknowledged in the text?

____ A. It failed to measure daily energy and calorie consumption accurately. ____ B. It was conducted using only a small group of adult volunteers. ____ C. It only monitored participants who consumed unprocessed food. ____ D. It took place over several years rather than a single month.

7. What does the writer suggest about the NIH study in paragraph D?

____ A. It provides conclusive proof that processed food causes damage across many years. ____ B. It confirms that health agencies should stop recommending numeric salt limits. ____ C. It offers tentative evidence that the type of food people eat affects their overall intake. ____ D. It shows that adult volunteers prefer free sugars over canned vegetables.

Questions 8–10

Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Recommended Dietary Targets

Official guidelines from the World Health Organization state that anyone over 10 years of age should consume a minimum of

____

of fruit and vegetables each day.

Additionally, mature individuals are instructed to restrict their total daily intake of

____

to an amount under 5 g.

Finally, added sweeteners must account for less than

____

of the total daily energy that an individual consumes.

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